The Importance of Taking Breaks

I learnt a very valuable lesson from my recent hiatus for the Christmas period. It's okay to take breaks.

Writers often feel that if they aren’t writing or editing or working on their project in some way then they’re not writers. Let me tell you, this is not the case.

The weeks leading up to Christmas were rather difficult for me. I was burnt out after NaNoWriMo, I hadn’t made the word count, I was feeling discouraged, tired and unmotivated.

Between 14th December and today, I pulled back from social media, I put no pressure on myself to write anything or look at my project whatsoever. It was the best decision I could have made. I needed time to recharge, to recover from November’s challenges and give my brain some time to breathe. I didn’t even read, I spent all my time mindlessly watching television and spending time with my family.

While I did find myself writing every now and then during this time, I actually enjoyed it much more than I had previously. From time to time we have to treat writing like a job and force ourselves to struggle through writers block, maintain a steady writing routine and meet deadlines or achieve goals by a specific time. However, what I learnt was that sometimes you just need to stop.

When dealing with burnout, dissatisfaction and a lack of motivation, sometimes you’ll have to just slog through it, but sometimes it’s better to take a break, stop forcing time to insignificant word counts and breathe. Rest, and time away from a project can be beneficial.

Returning to my project, I found myself not only more dedicated and excited about my project, but I found I had subconsciously reignited my creativity and ideas washed over me the second I hit the keyboard. The words came easier to me once my brain wasn’t forced into power-saving mode by the intensity of the previous months. It had recharged and was ready to run at optimal performance once more.

So how do we know when to keep trudging along and when to surrender to recovery? I have to emphasise, all writers acquire their own process, and every writer differs, so experimentation and trial-and-error are the best way to go until you find what works for you. For me, I knew I had to take a break when trying to persevere through everything and it was only making me more tired, less motivated and I felt dejected every time I opened the laptop to write.

I had to make the decision to take a break, which fought against the feeling of failure and guilt. It felt like giving up, like quitting, and it was a hard decision to make. Ultimately, though, I realised that taking a break would actually be beneficial. After some rest and recovery I would be able to dedicate more of myself to my project, and the quality and quantity would be better. I realised if I didn’t take the break I would move slower and make less progress than if I recovered, and as an added bonus, the editing process wouldn’t be like trying to turn a rubbish dump into a ballroom.