How I Handle Life When the Well Runs Dry

I'm slowly working my way through a bit of a creative burnout period. For whatever reason, every so often, I'll find myself in a period of time where it's really hard for me to do any kind of creative work. In fact, even as I write this blog entry, I can feel my mind straining for the words. This frequently happens to me when I have a lot of stress in my life, which inevitably causes a chain reaction.

The stressor stresses me; it preoccupies all my waking thoughts; the ability to concentrate slowly leaves me; I strain to keep working on whatever project I'm in the midst of in some desperate craftsmen's bid to keep in touch with my craft; the strain stresses me further, and eventually, I stop working altogether.

I've experienced this pattern enough that I can recognize when it's starting and what stage I'm in during any given period. It doesn't make it any easier to cope with, I should add. Self-awareness, however, is a good step towards self-care. 

Like a lot of creatives at the moment, I've been experiencing this complicated, contradictory concoction of emotions. I feel as though, with the ongoing problems in the country and in the world (particularly with COVID-19 still raging), I should keep working and making stuff. Art of every kind is the sanctuary people turn to for solace in times of stress. I like many feel the urge to give people that solace. At the same time though, with the burnout going on within me, I can tell I'm in not mental shape to do so. 

So what I can do? What do I do when I know I can't work because my mental health isn't where it needs to be for me to do my best work? How do I cope with the time between the well drying up and refilling?

The one answer to these questions that I've found to be true in my case is to do one thing I find it damn near impossible to do: relax.

Everyone has their own way of relaxing. Some exercise; some read; some listen to music; some rewatch or rebinge their favorite TV show or movie; some even find mindlessly scrolling through the internet relaxing. 

I've found solace at one time or another in all those (except exercise, that's always work), but what I've truly found to be the best kind of relaxation is to literally do nothing. 

The most relaxing thing I can do is to sit in a chair or on a couch or lay in bed and just stare into space. That sort of idleness, for me, is what works best to recharge the creative battery. 

Now, it's hard to do. We live in a hustle-n-grind culture at the moment. Everyone, everywhere is saying you gotta rise and grind; you gotta have two part-time jobs and a side hustle. Even if you're laid up in bed with a combination of the Flu and Pneumonia, you gotta be working (like someone who just went through a bad divorce and has to work to pay the alimony their ex's lawyer screwed them into paying). This type of culture though is toxic. If you don't properly rest up, you won't be able to keep up the standard of work or performance that not only your boss might expect of you but that you expect of yourself. 

Thus, the secret of that is a form of productive indolence. I give myself permission to do nothing. Not forever, but just long enough to where doing nothing becomes more boring than the idea of working. It's like running your debugging program and then restarting your computer when it starts to run slow. 

In the moment, it may seem like laziness, but in fact, in the long-run, it's adding and enhancing the long-term health of your mind and your body. If you find yourself suffering from a creative block or from a period of burnout, consider what I suggest and give yourself permission to do nothing. Who knows--you might find it helps you.