I have been repeating that I need a creative break for a long time. And now I finally had it. A little bit more than two months when I didn’t have to create anything. Unless I wanted.
But was it worth it?
My creative break began on July 25th, the day I quit my full-time job and told myself that I do not have to create anything unless I truly want it.
Today is the 9th of October. So it actually lasted two and a half months.
During this creativity-free time, I expected to enjoy life just as it is. Not pushing myself to do anything I didn’t feel like doing and just live the moment. I thought that the eagerness to create will come naturally and at the end of the day, I will be full of ideas. Honestly, I believed that no longer than two weeks later I will be writing daily.
What can I say…
It was nothing like I expected!
There were just a couple of days when I felt like writing even though my head was filled with ideas. I simply didn’t want to take my laptop and write. I wanted to experience more of that carefree life.
My unwritten aim was to write three blog posts per week during this creative break. You can count how many blog posts I actually wrote during that time… Far from what I imagined.
But that is okay. I am glad I did what I did, even though it wasn’t related to creativity. Instead, I enjoyed every single day, stress was no longer by my side and I felt good. I feel good every single day now. And this is what makes me happy.
But hey, here I am now, typing, letting my creativity in again and enjoying the process.
However, what this creative break showed me is incredibly valuable.
No break helps to be better at creativity.
I do not feel more creative or better at that than I was on the lat day before this break.
Creativity needs our time, attention, and sometimes is a slow process. But it goes forward as long as we do.
Today, I didn’t feel inspired to write. I wanted to write. So I sat down, made myself think, and after brainstorming a couple of topics I chose one. And began working on it. No less easy or difficult than all the previous times.
And when I wrote during the creative break, it also was like that. More like a pleasant work than an inspiration-driven act.
So, is it worth having a creative break?
Based on my experiment, I say no. It is not worth it.
I don’t feel better about creativity in particular now compared to how I felt two and a half months ago. The inspiration doesn’t come any easier. But the pleasure of ending a piece is still the same.
This break proved me, that no matter how tired I think I am creatively, I still can do it all.
I just need to sit down and dedicate some time to it. And not take a break in between.
So hey, if you feel like you need a creative break too, you can try it. But for me, it didn’t make any difference when it comes to creativity. It rather helps will all the other things but not creativity.
I’m now pretty sure I won’t do that again. Instead, I will keep doing what I want to do even if I don’t feel inspired enough. I will create.
P.s. During the break, I wrote one post which was particularly interesting to write – Skincare over 25 – what do we need to know? – check it out if you haven’t yet.