It has been over a year since the last time I felt utterly worn out by writing. And it finally happened again. I have been at writing for over five years now, and I still get that writer burnout from time to time.
Most of the time, it's not really from writing through. It is actually from the things going on in life competing with writing. Writing tends to wear me out more when everything starts to pile up.
This happens to everybody. Typically what happens to me when it comes up is the jealousy of other writers. I see their circumstances and find m shelf extremely jealous, especially with the reality of my day job.
My Day Job is Kicking My Butt
Lately, my day job has been hell on earth. Suppose I am being candid. The amount of work keeps coming, whether I am caught up or not, and I don't feel any fulfillment from the job.
As this is the case, I'm typically super exhausted from the amount of mental energy I have expended. Then there is making sure that I have space and energy for my family.
When I get through all that energy, I'm worn out, and there is no energy or creative inspiration to write. Last week was the fullness of this as I didn't write all week.
How to Turn it Around
I have learned over the years that I need to have a plan for when this happens. Then, I can get back on track and get my writing done. So, I want to share what I do when burnout occurs.
Work less. The first thing I do is to make sure I slow things down. The more I work, the more tired I get. The less I work, the better my clarity can be. So, I try to cut back some.
Evaluate the situation. Next, I focus on where I am at in life. What is working? What isn't working? How might I cut back to ease myself into my high productivity efforts? I evaluate where I am now.
Start cutting things out. Sometimes, you need to cut things out. I have lots of ideas and things I wish I were doing. But I don't have all the time to do them. So, I cut some of the things that aren't in my wheelhouse.
Start slow when starting back up. I start slow. This means I ease back into my writing process. I'm not pounding out three or four articles at a time. I write one a day. And that's it.
Do things that bring back creativity and energy. I start with growing my creative energy before I step things back up to 100%. I read books, watch movies, go for walks, and sleep more. This recharges my batteries.
Evaluate regularly. After about a week of getting back to my writing habits, I check in with myself. If I feel good and have more energy, I might step things up. If not, I will focus on staying where I am at.
Peak performance and beyond. I continue to set up my writing performance as I feel good. Soon, I am right back to where I was. I even find myself ready for a new challenge most of the time.
This is my primary system to help me get back on track after being worn out from life and writing. It's simple but effective.
Final Thoughts
When I start hitting this burnout feeling, I typically don't see it coming. My wife sees it before I do. But I am pretty oblivious. The other thing is, this doesn't often happen anymore.
It was something that would happen two or three times a year. However, as I have grown as a writer, these moments have not happened as often.
It's probably a combination of my wife knowing me and my writing habits better to warn me and that I have better processes and focus as a writer now.
Either way, burnout happens to everyone, and it's essential to know how to recover.
How do you recover when you feel burnt out, overwhelmed, and exhausted? Share in the comments below.
J.R. Heimbigner is a #1 Bestselling Author on Amazon who loves helping people grow in their faith and help writers become authors. You can connect with him on Medium, his website, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Substack!
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