You’re an Artist Stuck at Home. Take a Break.

Yes, you.

I woke up this morning unable to get up. I just couldn’t do it.

I laid in bed having anxious thoughts for what’s to come today. Then I tried to get up again and an hour passed by. Still anxious.

I firmly decided to myself that I’m not a robot and need to take a break.

Like you, fellow quarantined reader, being home all the time means more excuses to work (especially if you were already a remote worker before). And more excuses to work means more work being done. Which is a good thing. But, with anything, it must be in moderation.

And moderation — especially in my work since as I view it as more art than work — is a concept that this 22 year-old is still grasping.

After concluding my thoughts, I got up, took a shower, and started reading.

I read and I read and I read and I read. The only time I’ve done anything but read was make coffee or write this article.

I realized that, if I view my work as an art, I should do what artists do. Which…means taking a break.

It’s common for many of us to have writer’s block — and the concept applies to other media of art. Painters have painter’s block, songwriters have songwriter’s block, and the president has good-will action block. But I digress.

The truth is, despite how much you read on combating such fatigue (I’ve written articles on the subject), all methods don’t work for everyone. You should do what works best for you.

So reading is what works for me. But that doesn’t mean that it’s what works for you.

I started writing this article off a whim. I wasn’t even in the mood to write.

These are the best pieces that we create as artists, though: Art that comes from within and makes itself.

Niklas Göke said it best in his piece on breathing as a creative:

“So writes Matthew Inman, creator of the web comic The Oatmeal, in a post titled Creativity is like breathing. To explain the analogy, Inman writes: ‘When you make stuff, you’re exhaling. But you can’t exhale forever. Eventually, you have to breathe in. Or you’ll be dead.’”

Well said, Niklas.

You can’t be too hard on yourself when you’re an artist. You just can’t.

If you’re not breathing in new ideas via the art surrounding your life, you’re essentially recycling information. You’re not adding original value for the consumer. And if value is what the consumer is looking for, quite frankly, they’ll pick another artwork that adds more value than yours.

While I still believe that you should create content every day, in order to do it well you need to take a breather.

Your inner Picasso, John Mayer, and Lady Gaga are waiting. It’ll only come out with break. Or two.