Take a Break, Take It Easy

What do you do as a book blogger when you’re feeling burned out, or you’re ill, or life is just getting in the way? Ideally, you take a break. Go easy on yourself, remember that this is something you do for fun and not for money, and spend some time doing whatever else you do to relax and unwind (yes, I know you probably read to relax, usually – more on this later). It’s not always that simple though, is it? Maybe you’ve made commitments, or you want to keep up your site stats and social media engagement, or it just feels weird to not always be thinking about reviews, articles, and so on. Sound familiar? Trust me though – taking a break is almost always the right thing to do.

Why am I writing about this? Well, at the time of writing, I’m just coming out the other side of a few weeks of feeling ill – nothing major, just an annoying virus that’s left me tired, not eating properly, and generally in need of rest. For the first few days I thought I could carry on as normal with my writing routine and all the habits I try to maintain, but it wasn’t long before I realised that I needed to take my own advice, and take a break. And you know what? I’m so glad I made that decision. It’s been a real relief to spend a couple of weeks kicking back and concentrating on getting better, and now feels like the perfect time to talk a bit about this theme, and my experiences with taking a break.

I can’t speak for all book bloggers, but I think a lot of us set ourselves expectations which are easy enough to fulfil when we’re feeling fine and firing on all cylinders, but can feel like a bit of a burden at other times. A self-inflicted burden for sure, but a real one nonetheless. Blogging becomes a habit, and once you’re in the habit of something – especially something which provides an emotional reward (i.e. people reading and responding to what you write) – it can be tricky to get yourself out of it. Sometimes it takes getting ill, or realising that you’re starting to burn out, to give you the push to break that habit. That’s certainly what I’ve found over the years, as this isn’t the first time I’ve ended up needing a break.

Spending a few days by the coast definitely helped

This time around, I could see that I was struggling to find the headspace for writing, and I was worried that trying to push through would just prolong my recovery period…so strange as it felt, I just stopped. It really was a weird feeling to do that, but at the same time it produced a tangible sense of relief once I’d made the decision. Would I have recovered at the same pace if I’d carried on writing? I’ll never know. But I really think it helped to just stop worrying about what to write, and how to find time for writing. Normally it’s always on my mind, but now I could forget about it, and spend time doing other things instead – watching TV, going for walks, just ordinary activities. Things I normally do, but which now I could do more of, and guilt-free too.

It wasn’t just writing though. I figured I’d give myself as much of a break as possible, so as well as avoiding doing any kind of work on the site, I decided to only read for fun, with no intention of reviewing anything. This idea of reading purely for fun is important, and it comes back to that question I mentioned earlier: what do you do if you know you need to relax, but you’re finding that the very thing which normally helps you to unwind – reading – is directly contributing to your stress? It’s where those self-made expectations come into play; you love reading, it’s why you started blogging, but you’re finding that the pressures of reading for reviewing (making notes, thinking critically, just the idea of having to pull all your thoughts together into a cohesive whole) are making reading less enjoyable, and less relaxing.

Personally I think it’s pretty normal to feel like this after a while, and it’s why I always try to break up my reading with ‘just for fun’ books to make sure I get the chance to blast through a few easy reads now and then. There does come a point though, when it’s good to put review reads to one side for a week or two and spend a concerted period of time reminding yourself why you fell in love with reading in the first place. It’s a great opportunity to catch up on books you’ve been meaning to read for a while, or go back and revisit some comfort reads – this time around I reread an old Discworld favourite, sped through a couple of Warhammer books, finally got around to reading a (wonderful) Becky Chambers novel, and picked up a fantasy novel I’d had on the shelf for a while.

So those two decisions – no writing, and only reading for fun – freed me up to just kick back and relax, especially as I didn’t set a particular time frame for this. Instead I figured I’d just get back into the swing of things as and when I felt up to it. I haven’t regretted taking a break even once, during this time. And even now I’m easing myself back into writing, I’m not worrying about sticking to any self-imposed frequency of posting – I’m just taking my time to work on this post as and when I feel like it. It’s been the right thing to do for me, and I suspect it would be the right thing to do for a lot of other bloggers. It’s worth a try at least, right?

If you do step back and give yourself that rest, chances are you’ll quickly see the benefits and, in my experience, remind yourself what life can be like without those self-imposed expectations. Remember: you’re not getting paid! This should be fun – if it’s not fun, stop and consider what you’re getting out of it, and whether you’re doing the right thing or not. Ultimately, sustainability is key, so be kind to yourself. Take breaks, practice saying no (you’re not obliged to review everything that comes your way), and remember your priorities. There’s more to life than book blogging!

Let me know if you’ve had similar experiences – what helped you to unwind and relax?

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