I have a hard time with self-guilt when it comes to writing. I feel like I am never satisfied with my productivity levels when I write, like I can always be doing better. But despite this attitude, I’ve found it takes away from my productivity more than it helps it. You see, it’s taken me awhile to figure this out, but holding myself to such a high “writing” standard that I am inevitably am not going to meet hinders me much more than it helps me. Procrastination feels much more attractive when I am disappointed in myself.

I think this is why I have a tendency to take looooong gaps in between my writing weeks. Ones that I didn’t plan. And all that time I’m mentally yelling at myself, “get back to writing your book! Stop being a quitter!” and yet this attitude does very little to get me back into my writing habit. I just feel guilty.

So recently I wanted to reframe my thinking. To stop demonizing “breaks” because breaks are not synonymous with quitting. Quite the opposite actually. Everyone needs a break every now and then, even from stuff they really enjoy. So I decided to start referring to my non-writing periods as “pauses” not “quitting”. Already I can tell a difference in the way I view writing. It feels less like a chore. And I won’t leave it to sit for weeks on end either. Because a “pause” I implies that it will be continued, whether it be tomorrow or next week. Pauses are healthy every now and then, I shouldn’t yell at myself for taking them otherwise I will associate writing with dissatisfaction and this immense feeling of “I don’t want to do this”.

So if you’re a writer like me who has bad habit of yelling at yourself every time you step away from a project, maybe consider taking a well-needed “pause”. And then come back to it.