Mental Health Break – Write 2 Be

So I guess it is time to get back to the business of being productive. I wrote in last week’s post about knowing when to take a break and not feeling guilty for needing one. I said that I was probably going to take a couple of days to collect myself mentally and to refill the creative well so to speak. Well I took the whole week and I am so glad I did.

I didn’t even know how much I needed it until I was in the middle of the week and just decided that I was going to go the whole week. I read, I watched some TV, I read some more, I watched some YouTube as part of my research (okay I guess I snuck a tiny bit of work related research in there lol). I did not get out in nature like I could have but it was either really hot and humid here all last week, or there were flash flood thunderstorms. So yeah, I watched the outside from indoors.

I’m not going to lie and say that I didn’t feel a pang of guilt when I realized all that I wanted to have out by the end of this year and what I needed to get done to get there. However, I stuck to the mental break that I had put myself on (okay most of the time, maybe not entirely, but I digress), and I truly feel a bit more refreshed mentally, and I feel more creative and I feel more aware of the things that I need to do going forward to make the rest of this year somewhat of a success (as successful as it can be during a global pandemic anyway) and there are some things that I need to reconfigure about my marketing and business plans and a few things in terms of re-publishing my first book that I also need to consider and I feel a bit more ready to handle the specific tasks that I need to do in order to proceed.

I highly advise taking breaks for the sake of your mental health if you start to feel yourself heading towards a burnout of some sort, or even a creative block. Perhaps even incorporate one weekend out of every month where you take a break from everything so that you won’t end up needing a whole entire week but however long you need one, breaks are necessary. Creative people can not function, non-stop without stepping away from your creative endeavors.

It has taken me forever to get this into my head that it is not wrong, it is not lazy, and it definitely is not selfish, to look after you! I wish I hadn’t had to learn this valuable lesson the many hard ways in which I did but hey, what is life without a lot of hard valuable lessons to learn along the way. So don’t stifle your creativity by putting constant pressure on yourself to always be on the go and feeling like you always have to produce something. Sometimes the most creative thing that we creative types can do is to just let the ideas marinate in our brains for a while until they are ready to be fully realized. Until next time… #BeMindful #BeAware #BeRestorative

Jimmetta Carpenter

Writer/Editor

https://write-2-be.com/

http://write2bemagazine.com/

http://www.facebook.com/people/Jimmetta-Carpenter/1069480310

https://www.facebook.com/Write2BeMagazine

https://www.facebook.com/AuthorJCCarpenter

https://twitter.com/jcladyluv

https://twitter.com/write2bemag

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPU35EkFSbuxgekCp4LfI5g

So I’m not known for knowing when to take a break. I typically push and push and push until I completely am exhausted of all creative, mental, and physical energy. I do this because I have moments when I get in such a bad funk or depression where nothing happens because I simply can’t and then I get frustrated with myself because I feel like I’m wasting so much time (as if it’s that easy to keep depression at bay). Last week was a little off for me because since this Pandemic started I’ve been on the go and more productive than I have been in recent months prior to it.

I’ve been writing more and doing more for my magazine, and even started a YouTube channel. I’ve got books that I’ve set in motion to be released before the end of the year (at least 4 of them) and there’s so much to do in preparation for this and that’s what I’ve been working towards. Even my weekends have been filled with writing related tasks (I used to have a no weekends thing so that’s big for me) and I have actually loved just how creatively inspired I’ve been and just on a constant need to be doing something to further the goal. Last week, however, I just didn’t feel like doing any of that. It wasn’t like my mind wasn’t still brimming with ideas and the need to keep pushing but it seemed the harder I tried to push through the more I felt like I just couldn’t do any of it. It wasn’t a depressed feeling because I know what that feels like.

I wasn’t sure what this was but then I attended the virtual writing retreat this weekend, Evergreen Writing Oasis, via YouTube and the first day of the event they talked about burnout (which is not the same as depression however one can feed into the other). I was beginning to feel burnout and that is not something that I can afford to have right now. In the event they spoke about ways to combat burnout, but also ways to maybe try and head the burnout off when you begin to recognize that’s what’s coming. This made me think of my own advice in one of my videos about filling the creative well and I had decided to go ahead and take the entire weekend and just enjoy the virtual writing retreat and just attend the panels, read, and watch TV.

I thought that would allow me to start this week off right and vibrant and refreshed and ready to hit the ground running. Yeah that’s not what happened because I’m still feeling a little blah and I still feel like I need to refill the well so to speak. So my initial thought was okay so this is going to be a week long thing and I’m just going to make this a mental health week and that may still be what it ends up being but for now I’m just going to play this by ear. So I did not make a schedule for this week (not yet anyway) and I have not yet written a to-do list (I plan on it though—I think) for the things that would need to be done this week. I have a novel outline to finish (for Camp NaNoWriMo) plus a novel and a motivational book to get prepped for release along with two poetry books but I don’t feel like I can produce my best work feeling like this.

All of this is to say that Mental Health breaks are very necessary and we (and by we I mean people in general) should not feel bad, or frustrated with ourselves for needing one. If we are not at our best mentally than how can we be the best version of ourselves that we need to be? I hope you guys don’t mind me working this out with you all and that I’m not rambling too much but I just felt like someone else out there needs to hear that it’s okay to take a break. It does not mean that you are lazy and it does not mean that you are unaware of the need to complete the task and accomplish the goal. It simply means that you are putting your mental health first for a few days, or however long you decide you need that mental break for. Don’t forget to take care of yourself. Until next time #BeMindful #BeAware #BeGoodtoYourself