Mental Break

I’ve been going non-stop between my new position at work, traveling for work, researching and querying agents, working on my new manuscript, and all of my day to day mother/wife duties. When I get home from work, I’m usually mentally drained. Which has led me to a lot less writing. When I write less, I start to feel guilty for writing less and beat myself up for not working hard everyday toward my dream.  It’s a never-ending challenge to let myself know it’s ok to slow down, to take it easy, to sometimes say no – even to myself.

This last weekend, which happened to be a 3-day weekend for me, I decided to take a mental break. I needed to recharge and I used this weekend as an opportunity to do so.

I spent time outside in my favorite chair, listening to nature, watching the hummingbirds enjoy the nectar I put out for them. I listened to album after album, taking in the sound of the vinyl. I lounged around and watched really terrible movies on cable. The kind you don’t really need to think about, with terrible plots. The type to make you wonder how someone spent money making it into a movie in the first place. OK- maybe I thought about it a little. I sat and binged the remaining episodes of Mindhunter.

I didn’t think about the amount of work I currently had on my desk, I didn’t worry about things around the house that weren’t necessary to do, I didn’t worry I may not reach my goals of becoming a published writer, I didn’t worry I would miss an opportunity with an agent due to not researching and querying. I didn’t work on my current project.

Most importantly, I didn’t feel guilty for not doing any of those things. When Tuesday rolled around, I felt recharged, ready to face my daily grind. It didn’t eat me up inside to step away from everything for a few days.

While these times are few and far between for me, I appreciate the mental break I take from time to time. So this is my reminder for anyone reading this – Take time for a mental break.