Preventing Creative Burnout: Rest and Restart

It's happened to all of us. We've hit a slump. It's not just writer's block--we'd love nothing more than to write. It's burnout. We are mentally and emotionally exhausted. Maybe we're experiencing hardships in our real life as well as our writing life. Maybe a heavy load of school or work has bogged us down, or a family tragedy has derailed our lives completely.

Dear reader, you don't have to write right now.

This contradicts just about every piece of advice we've ever heard, but it's true. Sometimes pushing through isn't the solution. Sometimes we just need to rest. And honestly, rest shouldn't come as a result of burnout. Taking care of ourselves and our imaginations isn't a last resort or the solution to a problem. Rest should be a regularly scheduled part of our lives.

Here are three ways to rest, and three ways to restart, which work before the burnout, as well as after:

Rest

1. Take a walk outside. The rhythmic exercise and fresh air will calm your mind, and the beauty of nature might jumpstart your creativity. It's hard to look at the sky and not think in poems.
2. Indulge a little. Maybe you just need chocolate. Seriously. Chocolate sends endorphins to your brain that help reenergize it.
3. Talk to a friend. Sometimes pouring out our problems and emotions before a supportive friend is all it takes to make us feel better, and a trusted friend's advice can give us insight into a course of action--or inaction, as the case may be.

Restart

1. Do something writing-related. Maybe you've decided, for one reason or another, that you do need to push through. Maybe there's a deadline coming up, or you just need to distract yourself. But the issue remains: You're not fresh enough to dive into your work. That's alright. Illustrate your MC. Make a bubble chart of how your many works-in-progress are related. Plot out the first chapter of your shiny new story idea. The writing itself can wait. Maybe these extracurricular activities will inspire you.
2. Ten words. I once wrote a whole post on this: Just write ten words. That's not enough to flesh out an idea in full, so usually you'll have to go a little beyond that, and before you know it, you're several pages into your WIP.
3. Write somewhere unusual. Escape the stress of your usual writing-zone (and any people who may inhabit it). Write in a tree, at a coffee shop, or even just in a different room of the house. You've trained your mind to feel exhausted when you see your desk, so leave the desk behind.

And, as always, pray. When we rely on God, He puts oil in our lamps, so we don't burn out.