The Burn-out Dilemma

The meal of the day was cheesy chicken croissants and homestyle green beans. It reminded me of a good ol' Outback honey wheat bread lunch, with bacon, cheese and butter. I feel like I inhaled it and was revitalized. It made me feel renewed.

Everyone goes through it at some time in life. Even if you're in your dream job, your ideal living situation or in the midst of a passion project, where you just become dispassionate. Everything you do seems like a chore and nothing you do feels quite "right".

As a writer and a social media creator, I've been going through this myself lately. I'm in the middle of it still currently. So let me give you my take on some popular alternatives the internet gives on how to get out of "burn out" or as I call it "the dead zone".

Try everything

While I haven't tried "literally" everything, I have tried a treasure trove of things. I've searched up questionable things and I've even tried handmaking fashion to find inspiration. While the compliments were very rewarding, I found myself dabbling into other things more often without much success in the writing department.

I've probably re-branded myself a hundred times to try and find an inkling of a renewal or revival spark to take my writing to the next level.

Seek support

Seeking support is great, if your support understands exactly what you're going through. Most of the time, it ends up with a lot of head nodding. It's best to find a mutual that you can soundboard off but this is a limited option - unless you're planning to co-write the entire book.

Exercise

This one is probably the one that worked pretty well. It's best to take a notebook along or be ready to run for your computer. Spending time outside in nature, whether it's walking or laying in the grass has helped to spark more ideas than I could say. Some good, some anti-climatic but they were all ideas.

Consume content

Well this can be helpful and could help spark a new idea, it can end up with a series of ideas being smashed together. It could either be the next "Twilight" or it could turn into a steaming mess. While I love a good 52 episode Chinese drama or "Grown-ish", too many ideas will dilute the original intention - a lesson I am learning with my manuscript "The Golden-Eyed Goddess, The Wreckage of Antikythera" (the first rough draft available on my Wattpad https://www.wattpad.com/story/394835696-the-golden-eyed-goddess-the-wreckage-of

Ultimately...

What I suggest is to go back to an old, unfinished story and write (I've started writing on my old BLEACH fanfiction "Authentic Soul" available on Wattpad https://www.wattpad.com/story/243585625-authentic-soul-perfect-imperfection-bleach-fanfic) . Write through all the grunts and groans. Write all the word vomit there. Write without spell checking, without grammar police'ing or even start a blog like this one. Do something that has to do with writing or with your actual passion.

After 621 side quests, a variety of hobbies and little to show for my actual passion which is writing, but it's great to have other hobbies and passions to fill your down time. Make sure to allocate time specifically for your passion, whether it's ten minutes or an hour. It doesn't have to be everyday but at least once a week.

Keep breathing life,

Sheridan