Writing Through Mental Exhaustion

As a former fitness competitor and trainer, I’m very well-aware of how the body needs rest to recover. It’s during the recovery mode that the muscles rebuild stronger. The mind works just as hard, if not more so, as the body, but adequate mental recovery is often overlooked. A “hustle and grind” attitude is the slogan for every entrepreneur and self-help guru out there. As authors, our mental efforts often double those of others. We’re creating entire worlds and populating them with characters in enticing stories. Couple that creative output with marketing efforts, and it can become exhausting. 
The first thing I'm going to tell you about writing through mental exhaustion is, if you're really burnt out and your mind feels like it's crashing in all around you, take some time off and re-channel your energies. Some of the methods of doing that can include journaling, exercise, getting outdoors, enjoying a favorite hobby, making sure you are getting proper amounts of sleep and nutrition, and so on.
Authors today are not only the masters of their craft, but they are also the brains behind their brand. Being an author is no different from being a small business owner, and sometimes juggling all the balls in the air you need to gets to be too much. If it's too much, it's OK to press pause.
However, sometimes, you have a deadline you need to reach. Or perhaps, your mind is only feeling the pull of procrastination, not burn-out. In that case, power through. You have to finish writing it. If you don’t, no one else will.
I recently had a round of mental exhaustion and it started to limit my creativity. It got so bad I started to wonder what the point of writing was at all. I mean, the world outside is on the brink of imploding, so why does my little story matter?
As soon as I realized that just finishing the story would be for my benefit, that's when I started to push through. Just getting down the words in a very rough draft was an accomplishment I could be proud of.
How to power through when stopping completely is not an option?

Read the entire article in the February 2021 issue of InD'Tale magazine.

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