Honoring Writer's Block | Tips to Overcome It

‌‌Sitting in the corner, I was wondering: why don't I feel like writing these days? I suddenly feel a lack of motivation to sit back & write blogs. I realized that I feel mentally lazy & impatient to think through & unfold an idea. I became anxious as I was doing an impressive job a while ago.

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I thought of odd reasons why it was happening to me in the first place. It strikes me: Perhaps, I don't feel like sharing much nowadays. It's nothing new. It happens to me from time to time. Sometimes, I wish to go on a low-profile mode. Precisely, I crave some downtime after every few weeks.

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On those days, I like to read & catch up with stuff I was missing out on. But then what's the issue if I spend some time doing my thing? After all, we can't be in productivity mode, or creative mode for that matter, all the time. Novelty is what we all crave. At least I do.

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Yet, I was feeling restless & found it difficult to enjoy my reading. This got me thinking: do I miss writing? Or do I feel guilty about not writing? You see, they are two different things. In reality, I was feeling guilty for taking a break from writing. It's because I was fearful of losing my edge & reversing my gains. What if I am left behind? It's a cutthroat attention war among creators on social media nowadays.

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Moreover, in my head, I had started overidentifying myself as someone consistent & prolific in what she does. Since I was able to show up almost every day for several months. Then suddenly I had to face a creative block. I couldn't push myself to my desktop & type. This led me to doubt my ethic, my discipline, & my resilience.

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I was feeling scattered & conflicted about not being able to do what I ought to do. Also, I wanted to read alone & be away from the screen for some time. But I could barely keep myself calm & present in what I was doing. As I was wondering & reasoning by myself, a strange analogy crossed my mind. Here it is:

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Let's assume that on one level, our mind (brain) is like soil. Similar to the soil, it needs nourishing (nutrient supply) from time to time. In farming practices, there are many ways to achieve that. One of the indigenous techniques is leaving it uncultivated & undisturbed for some time.

It is because when a piece of land, when left uncultivated for a few cropping seasons (known as fallow land), it gains back its fertility. In this period, the fallow land makes up for the lost nutrients. The decomposition of fallen leaves & organic matter supplies nutrients for another round of cropping season.

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Here's why we have concepts of fallow land farming: What happens when you grow crops on a piece of the land season to season? Over successive cropping seasons, it begins to go low on nutrients, turns saline, & eventually becomes depleted for giving high yield. So does our mind.

When it isn't supplied with fresh ideas, it starts feeling stuck & stagnated, consequently leading us to feel drained & exhausted. As a result, you feel a drop in your mental energy to rigorously think through, and a decline in your creativity to profusely write or create.

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There are also other interesting concepts like intercropping & crop rotation in indigenous farming practices. As someone who spent her early childhood on farm fields, I remember my father growing a variety of compatible crops on the same piece of land. One day, I curiously asked him why don't grow different crops on different pieces of land.

He replied that it helps maintain the richness of the soil. When the same variety of crops (especially water-intensive crops like rice) is grown over the same piece of land for successive cropping seasons, the fertility of the soil goes down. To make it sound simple, he said: the poor soil gets bored & tired of the same seed.

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This prompted me to think: In the same way, once you gain a comfortable command over writing about your field/subject, you may find it repetitive. It's a sign to expand your mental horizons, explore, & complement your knowledge with sister fields. This promotes a cross-section of ideas & encourages a diffused form of thinking. Further, it prevents you from getting trapped in one-dimensional thinking & find yourself in a situation of creative block & even a knowledge gap.

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However, there's a caveat: you must be careful that you don't try to keep up with diverse fields at once. This might drain you & leave you feeling burned out. The safe bet is to tread into interrelated fields, aka offshoot fields. This gives your brain access to a wide database, thus, a mine of diverse ideas & concepts to connect & knit them together.

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So next time, you face anything of sorts like writer's block.

• Maybe it's time to pick up your favorite books & read alone.

• Maybe it's time to cultivate your mind with novel ideas & concepts.

• Maybe it's time to reassess & update your knowledge base.

• Maybe it's time to slow down & reflect on what you already know & what else you need to know.

‌‌Meanwhile, don't beat yourself up for not writing enough. Make no fuss about it. Honor it! It's an opportunity on your way to reflect & reassess your craft and approach it with freshness and newness. You can always come back to where you were.

Yes, it's common to feel insecure. What if I never get into my groove? What if I lose my edge? Please be rest assured that will not happen if only you use your break properly as the soil does. Moreover, I am sharing with you some tips here to finally get you started writing.

TIPS TO OVERCOME WRITER'S BLOCK

1). How to START:

When you think, you're ready and finally decide to get down and write:

-Sit back comfortably with patience, turn your attention away from everything, and collect yourself. ‌‌

-Start small, just aim for 50-100 words. The goal is to make you sit down & write. Small baby steps.

-Don't strive for perfection, let your thoughts flow out. You can edit & enrich the crude version later. Just write!

PROTIP: The thumb rule of writing is to write & let it flow out. Imagine a running tap and the water flowing out of it. Similarly, let your thoughts pour down. Just uninhibited & unrestrained.

‌‌Don't slow down by looking for the right word or the perfect way to say that. Don't bother yourself too much about that. Let your thoughts flow out. You may edit your piece later.

NOTE: It'll come to you. Just clear your head. Sit down with a relaxed mind. You can calm yourself down or gain intensity by listening to music.

Music to calm you down & leave you feeling arrived.

Music to get you in some action.

2). How to choose a TOPIC:

-Reflect on a topic you've read in a newspaper/magazine. Add your insights & inputs and rework to improve it. Here, you don't have to write from scratch.

-Send a long-pending reply to a friend or relative. Explain to them what's keeping you busy & use it as an opportunity to write. You may write DM's also or update your CV. Write!

-Tune in to your favorite podcast & soak up the creative vibe to use it to initiate you. Read or listen to whatever you like with an open mind. It sometimes gives good food for thought.

THE KEY MESSAGE

The goal is to get into the groove & eventually learn to create from a flow state. For that, it's important to understand how we unearth our thoughts & how our brain works. As it will guide us to stimulate our brains and get out of a creative rut. So do pay attention to what inspires you to sit upright & write. However, it's better not to confuse inspiration with compensation for not writing enough. As it always may not be the case.

CLOSING REMARK

It'll be useful to know what's holding you back. Sometimes it's too much clutter that prevents us from thinking and processing. Or maybe sleep-deprived or feeling depleted on some level (mental, emotional, physical). Find the root cause, if there's one.

A good start would be to fix your routine. Any disruption in routine saps your mental & physical energy, making you feel low on creative energy. Thus, for a seamless flow of thoughts, you gotta keep your body healthy & sound and your mind stimulated & sane. So, eat clean, sleep sound, move & exercise for continuous replenishment.

Last but not least: Keep reading, keep nurturing, and keep preparing your mind for sowing seeds for growing more & more crops of rich ideas. Never mind taking a creative break if you believe that you indeed NEED one.