Avoiding Post-Burnout Guilt and Procrastination As A creator
Burnout is undoubtedly a condition that anyone is capable of going through. The state of mind it induces can be incredibly aggravating at times, especially when it just seems like there is no end to the burnout. It’s an all-around tiring thing to go through, especially as an artist or writer because the effects of post-burnout can really put a damper on both your self-esteem and will to create.
A problem that I frequently encountered in writing is that combination of burnout followed by the inability to write anything for a long period of time. I’m not necessarily saying that not writing anything for a long period of time is a bad thing, but it’s very much a question of your commitment to writing that takes a hit during burnout. The mind-numbing emptiness is incredibly guilt-inducing, especially when due dates or ideas pop up into your mind, but you have no will to actually write it—even when you desperately want to. And then it just tends to build and build until the last time you wrote something was like years ago, which is undoubtedly followed by the guilt of not working on anything for such a long period of time.
The best way I’ve found to combat post-burnout procrastination is a technique that’s quite popular in artist circles: everyday doodling. Or for writers, everyday writing practice. Emphasis on the word practice, because what I’ve found is that simply stimulating your brain to write small snippets—even a simple quote, is enough to just exercise your “writing muscles” in order to not get hit by the post-burnout guilt. Even if you still get guilty at the low word count or lack of progress you’re making in your writing, just have faith that this is just a small step in getting back on track.
But even as I’m saying to do daily practice, I mean that it should only be done when you think you’re ready to maybe start writing again. Breaks are important, especially in the face of burnout. It’s part of the reason why people even have burnout in the first place, from excessive working. Quite frankly, you don’t even have to be completely psyched to start writing or have any sort of conviction about wanting to write, in order to start the practice. The only point where you have to be is where writing doesn’t exacerbate the burnout. For me, it was the point where I could just blandly churn out small one-liners or bullet point ideas without feeling like I never wanted to see another word doc again. Attempting to do any sort of creative work while being in the burnout phase is a horrible idea. It’s why I am emphasizing this practice for post-burnout and not during burnout.
Burnout is a perfectly normal experience to go through, and it’s simply a phase of the experience of writing or any other creative art. Eventually it can be overcome, even if it takes varying amounts of time for different people. There is no “one fix” that can help someone overcome burnout, because it’s an individual problem, but there are ways to move past the aftereffects of burnout in order to continue what you like to do.
