Welcome to Minisode 4 of Alchemy for Authors!
In this short episode I share my reflection on my recent bout of burnout and overwhelm, and how rest really can make us more productive and creative.
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Find the full transcript of this episode below.
Minisode 4: The Importance of Rest
Jo: Hello, my lovelies welcome to Minisode 4 of Alchemy for Authors where I’m back to share with you a reflection on things that you probably already know, such as the way with it, that usually these things come to my mind that I already know, but don’t always hold at the forefront of my consciousness and you might feel a little bit the same. So the topic that I wanted to chat to you about today is the importance of rest.
So the last couple of months I have been in wicked burnout. I have been so exhausted and overwhelmed. I’ve started a new day job, which has meant there has been quite a steep learning curve, and it has also meant that my day job has infiltrated my evenings and my weekends and all and every bit of downtime I would normally have had. It has also made me feel like I’ve been dropping the ball in pretty much every other area of my life, including my commitments to my author business.So, I might’ve mentioned before, I’ve had to pull out of a book signing that I was going to be doing in April here. I’ve had to push aside two editing deadlines and my novel Broken Lies, which has been waiting for me just to do the final check over and edits before getting it out in the world has also taken a backseat. And I’ve also been struggling to keep this podcast alive. And I love this podcast. So it has been a bit of a trying few months. As I’ve tried to work out how I can make these two areas of my life, not to mention things like family and house and all other aspects of my life, function in a way that is not so overwhelming and quite simply making me feel like I’m kind of failing at everything as I try and fit it all in. Because that doesn’t happen. You can’t fit everything in.
So I’ve been going after that whole concept of work life balance and there hasn’t been any and it’s a horrible mindset to be in and I’m sure you’ve been there too. For me, I often feel it most strongly in my day job, and I can get a little bit resentful in that towards how much it impacts upon my personal life, my friendships, my family, and yeah what I’m incredibly passionate about, which is writing and this podcast and connecting with other authors and all that good stuff.
So where I’m going with all this is just my own realization that when people say that rest and downtime can actually make you more productive, they are right. And that seems like such a farfetched idea when you’re in the middle of the chaos of overwhelm and burnout and feeling like you’re just doing, doing, doing, but I have had the luxury of the past few days where I’ve managed to take back the reins a little bit of my life and enjoy a little bit of downtime, and I’ve enjoyed doing some things that aren’t even on my to do list and do not have some kind of material outcome to them, and it has been the most freeing, liberating, amazing, thing. And it’s something I know you know, that taking a step back when we can is one of the most beneficial and productive things that we can do for ourselves. So if you are like me and you’re really driven by that strong need to produce and create and do, then here I am that nagging voice in your head to listen to all those people who are doing life a little bit better than we are, and to take a step back and do less.
So if you listened to the episode with Orna Ross, a few episodes back, she even talked about how essential rest and play is to being a productive author with a sustainable career. Rest is not that added bonus that we are allowed after we’ve done all the hard work, rest is our work. It is what we need so that we can be creative so that we can keep our creative juices flowing. And I’m sure you’ve noticed this too, how much easier it is to focus and to get work done and to ideate and all of that when you are rested, when you don’t feel that crushing overwhelm of stress and lack of time and this pressure hanging over you. Somehow it makes life so much easier.
Again, I realize how simple this is and how this is stuff that you already know. This is stuff that I already know, but I still find myself often in these cycles of pushing aside what I know is good for me, pushing aside the rest, pushing aside the play, pushing aside that downtime because of some goals or deadlines that I’ve set for myself or obligations that I feel that I have to meet for other people. And that is something that often drives a lot of the pressure behind my constant action is that thought of making sure that I’m meeting other people’s needs, or I’m not letting people down. I don’t want to let my readers down, my listeners down, my editor down, all of that. And I can often use that as an excuse to let myself down and to fall out of alignment and out of integrity with myself by not ensuring that my vessel, myself is looked after and in the best condition to actually achieve what it is that I want to achieve.
There are so many multiple studies out there, and you can Google them yourself, in regards to how rest and downtime contribute to more productivity. We innately know that sustainability in our careers is only going to come from ensuring that we’re not burnt out, that we’re not coming from a state of overwhelm and doing too much. Ironically, my word for the year was Simplify, because I know that when I simplify my life, when I simplify my tasks, when I simplify the amount of plates that I’m spinning in the air, I amplify my achievements and I amplify my productivity.
So I have come from a long period of not feeling at all creative, of not having those inspired ideas and taking that inspired action, of everything just feeling much harder than it really legitimately is. And so pulling back and learning to say no. And learning to put in better boundaries for myself and for others has given me the breather in my life that I needed. And now I’m feeling that wonderful surge of inspiration again, and that excitement and openness to getting back into editing my book, Broken Lies, to get back into writing Hades’s Hex, my next paranormal cozy mystery. I’m again starting to feel that burst of inspiration of doing my audio books and selling direct and all these things that have been percolating in the back of my brain, that I’ve been yearning to do for quite a while now and have not put first.
My challenge is going to be not filling any free time that I pull back, that I grab back from the day job, with just more doing. That is going to be the real challenge, not replacing one sort of busyness in one area of my life with busyness in another area of life. It’s about finding that balance where I can do what I need to do in the day job. But know that I am better at my day job when I’m being fulfilled in the rest of my life. So not overwhelmed, but fulfilled. So that means clawing back time to write, and to edit, and to create these podcast episodes, and to reach out to new guests, and to do all those things, but not in this crippling anxiety ridden way of trying to do all the things.
I know my ADHD plays a huge part in this cycle of burnout and overwhelm. I have that shiny object syndrome where I want to do all the things all the time. And my focus can struggle at the best of times, particularly when it is things that I’m not overly excited by. My day job has a lot of admin that I don’t enjoy, that due to the setup at the moment requires me to do it at home, just because I have better access to internet and technology here than I do at the moment in my day job, which hopefully will be changing. So I’ll be able to keep my work a little bit more at my work.
But I have had that added challenge of being my own worst task master. So my advice, if you are going through something similar or for when you do, because I know a lot of us indie authors in particular, we can go through those bouts of the shiny object syndrome and wanting to do all the things because this person says this is what’s happening and the industry changes so fast. So my advice is you’re going to have to get tough with others and set down some boundaries. You’re going to have to get tougher with yourself.
If you’re wanting to create and manifest the author career of your dreams, the life that you want for yourself, then you are going to have to ensure that you are in alignment with your goals and to be in alignment with your goals, you need to be in integrity with yourself. Which means you can’t keep putting yourself last. You can’t put other people’s needs first all the time. You need to ensure that yourself, your vessel, your body, your mental health, your emotional health, all of it, are also aligned to the tasks and the goals that you want to achieve. And to do that, you are going to have to get serious about putting rest first. Ensuring that you’re taking time out from that constant doing and being kind to yourself.
I am trying to shift my perception a little bit to allowing myself to put my commitments to myself above commitments to other people. Commitments to other people are important, however I’m stuck with me for the entirety of my life. And at the end of this life, I want to make sure that I’m looking back feeling like I have left behind the impact that I wanted to, that my life has had purpose and had meaning. And that I went after the things that were important to me and gave energy to the things that were important to me. And even when it comes to family and friends, when I am burnt out and overwhelmed because I’m not doing that, I’m not giving them the energy that they deserve. And I’m not being the best version of myself.
I certainly don’t have this all sorted. I know that I’ll be back here in burnout no doubt again, because I’m human and I mess up. And this is a cycle that I will probably need to work on like a bad habit for a very long time. So I’m attempting to remind myself that everything that I’m doing in my day job, and with my books, and my podcast, and that, nobody is going to die if I mess up, make mistakes, and am sometimes less consistent than I would like to be. No one is going to die if I say no, nothing that I do is brain surgery or life and death. However, it is all about life and it is all about quality of life. And the older I get, the more I’m reminded of how short our lives are and how at any moment things can happen that completely tip everything upside down and change our lives. And so we need to make sure that as often as we can, we are living a life true to ourselves. We’re being kind to ourselves. We’re looking after ourselves. And we are continuing to do those things that light us up because that is why we’re here. That is our gift to the world. And doing more of what we love and we enjoy, and spending more time with the people that we love and enjoy is going to change how we show up in all areas of our life. There’s a saying that how we show up in one area of our life is how we show up in all areas of our life.
And so I guess my project for the year is getting clear on how I want to show up in my life and how I can be the best version of myself as often as possible. And that means that I am going to have to take my foot off the accelerator a lot more than I do. And I’m going to have to embrace the concept of downtime and rest, and being rather than doing.
So there we are, there’s my pep talk to you, my pep talk to myself, just a little check in with where I’m at and what I’m battling with at the moment and where I’m hoping to head. I would love to hear your experience. Is rest something that you find really easy to do, or is it something that you struggle to schedule for, like Orna Ross has recommended? Is it something that you struggle to put in your plan, in your calendar, to make time for? Or is it that thing that often gets pushed aside? That you’ll get to rest when all these things are done, when all these things are checked off your to do list? Are you at the point or have you ever found yourself at the point where you’ve had to learn too, that we are so much more productive, when we do less. We are so much more inspired when we do less. And that our work, what we leave behind in this life is going to be so much more impactful if we remember to look after ourselves and give ourselves that downtime to refill our creative well, to enjoy just being present, when we take a step back and just enjoy the journey a little bit more and not so much the destination.
So if you have enjoyed this little minisode, this little behind the scenes of my mindset at the moment, then I would love if you could rate or review or share with a friend. That’s just as amazing because that gets more people listening to Alchemy for Authors. Feel free to tag me on instagram. I would absolutely love that. And then I can share your post. That would be so cool. My handles on Instagram are @jobuerauthor, or @alchemyforauthors. If you haven’t already, make sure that you sign up to my Alchemy for Authors Newsletter so I can keep you in the loop of new episodes as they come out and from time to time, really cool discount opportunities and products and that, that I really love. And yeah, just keep you in the know of stuff that’s inspiring me. You can subscribe to my newsletter at https://subscribepage.io/manifestationforauthors. And yeah, otherwise enjoy your week, my friends, and I will be back next week with another full episode. Bye.
author mindset, Creativity, indie author, Mindset, Productivity, Rest