I’ve struggled to pace myself for years. For me, work — especially writing — has always felt like something I couldn’t stop doing, no matter how much I might have known I needed a break. You could blame plenty of things for this — the competitive nature of journalism being a standout. But it’s also part of my personality. A piece of myself I’ve wrestled with for decades.
Here’s something interesting I’ve learned recently, though. The less you push yourself to do more, the better you tend to perform. I don’t write well when I’m stretched too thin. But as soon as I slow down, my writing becomes the art I always know it can be.
If You Don’t Rest, Your Mind and Body Will Rest For You
Another lesson I’ve had to learn the hard way more than once — and I’m not alone in that. It was kind of a rite of passage in my circle of overachievers — exhaustion existing as this badge of honor you could only wear if you’d supposedly earned it. It was the only sign you could give to your peers that you were working hard enough.
But looking back, so much of that work wasn’t even good. It was born of torture instead of love. If you allow yourself the privilege of rest — as much of it as you can afford — you will produce better results. But if you don’t, you’ll end up resting anyway, because your mind and body will force that rest upon you. And you won’t like that.
Your Writing Isn’t Going Anywhere
I used to operate with this belief — I’m not even sure where it came from — that if I went too long without writing, all my ideas would disappear. I would somehow become bad at it without doing it at the pace I was used to. But none of that was true. Good writers benefit from breaks. They’re never harmed by them.
Your writing will still be here when you’re back from your rest, whether that’s tomorrow, next week, or a few months from now. This becomes more complicated when you get paid to write and unpaid breaks aren’t always feasible, but even an evening of rest can revive you for a day. Any rest is better than none.
The Artists Who Rests Makes More, Often Better, Art
When I’m exhausted, and I start to feel myself pushing through that for the sake of writing more, my words get worse. My metaphors stop making sense. I get lazy. Art becomes chore, and at the end of the day, it’s not always worth it. Yes, sometimes drafts have to get done. But at what cost?
Resting doesn’t just heal your body. It also restores your mind. Creativity is energy, and if you don’t have any to spare, you’re not going to be able to make good art. A lot of us don’t live in a world where rest is treated as essential, and there’s only so much we can do about that. But if you give yourself time to recover from your work — as much as you can — to slow down and breathe real air back into your lungs … you just might find success in all this chaos.
