Yes, it’s official! The God-awful burn out I mentioned before is finally GONE!!!

Hallelujah.

Finally, the day has come where I have sat down at my laptop, opened the story I was stuck in a rut with, and written 800 words straight in one sitting without a single problem. And the next day where I jotted down 500. And then 500 again the next.

So, yeah, I’d say it’s official.

Anyway… how did I beat the burnout???

I did a few things, actually.

First, I spent a number of days opening the story, staring blankly at the partially blank screen, begging myself to at least type something… and then I found out that that obviously wasn’t going to work, so… well, I stopped opening that darn word document altogether. I ignored its existence and did other things.

Things like… 

Well, for starters, I wrote tiny additions to my “back-up story” every few days. You know, that seconds story that you’re kind of writing but kind of not super committed to it because it’s always on the back burner and you don’t really mind if it takes you 10x longer than usual to finish it because it’s kind of just that little thing that you come back to every once in while just to have a little fun with… yeah, that story. I think coming back to my back-up story during this tragic time was a good way for me to keep myself writing, even if I wasn’t writing the story that I really cared about. Plus, it was just something different to take a hold on and refresh my outlook a little bit, you know?

Secondly… I gave more time to my hobbies and such. The time that I would usually be spending 100% on my writing. So… I did a lot of painting. I like doing that just for fun and it’s something that I don’t take too seriously (unlike my writing), so it really made me feel refreshed and relaxed. Plus, it’s kind of one of those things that just gives you time to think and… sort of get lost in your own little world. Writing does that too, yes, but painting (at least for me) does it in a bit different way. So, again, it still was a way to keep my mind active… but also active in a different kind of view.

Maybe I’ll even post some pics of the paintings I did on here in a future post, who knows?

Along with the whole hobbies and such idea… you all (maybe) know that learning other languages is big passion of mine, so… yeah, I did a lot more of that than usual, too. That’s different than both writing and painting, also, just because it’s… well, there’s a little less creativity behind it and a tad more thinking. It helps your memory tremendously, too. But, still, it just got me thinking in different ways. I mean… literally, thinking in different languages- different ways, haha.

And what else…

Well, I continued to write poetry and such, but just whenever an idea came to me or when I was really in the mood. I had to be careful about choosing how often to do this, though, because I really didn’t want to get burnt out on that as well.

Also…

This was mostly just in the past week or so (since the burn out really just ended over the past few days, I feel like this helped probably the most out of everything), but I watched a lot of movies right before I went to bed nearly every night. Older movies, too, like ones that I’ve seen hundreds of times before. I’m not quite exactly super sure what it is about this… ritual, I guess you could call it, but it kind of brought my slightly lost motivation back. My main theory is that it kind of reminded me… why, I guess, I started writing in the first place. Like, watching all these stories unfold, whether fictitious or not… that brought me back to the roots.

And… that’s pretty much it.

So, if you’re stuck in a burn out, here’s my advice. 

One: Stop trying so hard. It’ll feel so super duper wrong, but just stop. If you don’t feel like writing, just don’t. Don’t force it.

Two: Do something different with your time! Have fun; enjoy yourself! Give some of that time to one of your long forgotten hobbies, or a brand new hobby, or a sport that you play regularly but want to give even more time to than usual… just do something that’s both different and fun for you.

Three… Okay, specifically, I’d encourage you to watch a lot of movies and/or TV shows. I know it might not help you or anyone other than me, but it’s worth a shot, right?

And four… When and only when it feels right… well, write! You’ll know about when it’s time… and when it is, open your notebook or laptop back to that story, pick up the pen or… keyboard, I guess, and just go for it. It’ll come back to you a lot easier than you’d expect.

So, that’s it. I finally beat that burn out… let’s celebrate it!

Let me know if you’re currently experiencing this dreaded disease, too, and/or if you have any of your own tips for digging your way out of it!

-iKari (secretly loves Drake…) ❤