Hangovers. Stagnation. Really sore genitals.
All of the above are the result of too much of a good thing.
Self-care is abso-friggin’-lutely important in this day and age. Giving your body and mind what they need to be their best selves takes time and effort. Time because we don’t have dinners in pill form yet even though it’s 2018. Effort because if you don’t use your body or your mind, they lose their edge.
With their powers combined, time and effort will teach you things about how to build your best self, and that’s a good thing. *raises hand* Hell, I’m still on this journey. Right along with you, friend.
BUT: Too much focus can lead to a mental or emotional crash. Too much relaxation can distract or soften the badass you that used to be (Or the badass you that you see yourself becoming.)
Finding the right amount of self-care matters a frigguvalot.
Balance.
As writers and artists, we can build up so much momentum that we never want to stop. When we finally come out of the office or the coffee shop, we look like mad scientists who slept in the coffee we spilled on everything except our art.
As people dealing with everyday reality, we can find so much to consume or distract us that we never get back into the routine of creation.
That’s when we get back to the canvas or the keyboard and blank out. We search art techniques online instead of actually DOING them. We write a hundred words to use in a LATER story instead of building something new.
Do yourself a favor and engage in some self-care when you need to. Binge a season of something. Read the hell out of a novel you never got around to. Cram a whole pizza into your piehole. (That one was punintentional.)
After you care for yourself, start caring for your body and your art again. Never ever neglect them. Too much of a good thing leads to hangovers, stagnation, and raw genitals and not necessarily in that order.
That jaw-dropping plot twist can’t jump out of your brain and imprint itself on the paper. No dazzling future cityscape can arise from the jars of paint like krakens to splay across your canvas.
That act of creation REQUIRES you.
You’re needed.
Self-care is needed.
Get a feel for what the right amount of that is and dagnabbit, make this world more gorgeous with your art!