Consuming art is one thing, digesting it is another. Creating depends on both, and all of that requires time.
A while back, I wrote about my relationship with burnout.
Since I produce, edit, and publish a lot of creative output between writing and podcasting, I've been more focused on refilling my creative well lately. I'm trying to at least be better about maintaining it.
That hasn't necessarily meant cutting back on what I create. Well... I mean, partly it has. But it's more like making sure there's quality stuff coming in so that I can keep putting things out that I think are good. Sure, I read daily. I listen to music and podcasts, too. I interact with people, go for walks, and get lost in new shows or series. But, something that I've heard time and again from my favorite writers and artists is that taking time away from the craft itself is just as essential as the time you dedicate to it (if not more essential). Austin Kleon talks about this across each of his books, as does Julia Cameron. And there's a reason Stephen King says the best writers are readers.
What I started noticing recently is that I wasn't lacking stuff to consume as much as I was lacking the time to sit with it—to digest it. So I've been playing with my day-to-day schedule to make sure there's more room for rest. I'm notoriously bad at resting, so I'm quite proud of myself for prioritizing it.
According to Dr. Saundra Dalton-Smith, there are seven types of rest.
Something I'm playing with is reaching for the opposites. Since I've been feeling mentally drained, I've started leaning into physical activity. As someone who spends a lot of time creating, I'm pushing myself to be more social. And, knowing that I routinely carry a pretty high level of emotional labor, I've been prioritizing some life-admin stuff to declutter the stress from my to-do list.
This week, refilling my creative well by resting has looked like: cooking without listening to a podcast, running, grabbing coffee with a friend, journaling, date night with Isobel, watching my favorite snowboard competition (the Natural Selection Tour), and spending the afternoon today reading a chunk of Words of Radiance by Brandon Sanderson.
The way I see it, the game is just to consume, digest, and make time to let creativity do its thing.
Of the seven types of rest, which do you avoid? Is it also the one you think you need?
onward.
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