Sometimes It’s Good Not to Write

The unchallenged advice from countless successful authors has been this: write every day.

Believe me, I sympathize with this. I know what it’s like to be voraciously driven towards a goal. If it’s something you really love, you’ll do it obsessively. The only difference between a lifelong craftsman and an addict is that the former makes the world more beautiful with his or her obsession.

But is it ever appropriate to stop writing? To take a little hiatus? Maybe engage in the scenic route to your laptop instead of sprinting to it in a brazen charge?

I think so. And here are some instances where I’ve found it beneficial to pause my writing.

Instance 1: The Dishonesty Sneaks In: Torture Ensues

There are days where I have to really reckon with myself. Am I just being lazy, or is this passion becoming a shallow form of torture?

The problem for me isn’t putting in the work. I can put in the work on just about anything. But I feel that my writing is internally dishonest, then it becomes torture. Basically, it’s writing hot air and being full of shit.

Useless advice articles. Book ideas that don’t pan out, sometimes not even lasting a day. Journal entries that feel like I’m artificially complicating my soul. Propping it up and trying to be someone I’m not.

Part of this feels like a dance: it’s either cloaking my words in prose or ripping out their beating hearts and showing it to the crowd. Sometimes I do a little bit of both. But if I tend towards either too much, then I either look like a conceited and pompous jackass — or a cruel and barbaric jackass. Choose your poison. I think they both suck.

So, what does taking a break do for this?

It helps you recalibrate. Spending time doing other activities and letting your natural thoughts flow outward into a different task helps you stop lying to yourself.

For me, it’s exercise and my martial arts classes. In those activities, I can see my honest self and stop bullshitting on paper to look impressive.

Instance 2: Full Devotion to a Life Experience

This one might aggravate your amygdala if you’re a chronic writer that documents every step of their life.

I get it. We want to keep our writing habits and our experiences simultaneously. But get this: there are certain times where you simply cannot write.

Ever hear of the Vipassana Silent Retreat? Those week-long (or even longer) programs where people sit in complete silence and do nothing but meditate? Guess what you can’t do during those?

Write.

Go figure. It’s a silent meditation meant to break you down and dissolve your ego. Part of that is having no outlet, nowhere to go except inside your own head.

And you know what? It’s experiences like that where certain writers get to really know themselves. Tim Ferris, author of Tools of Titans, The 4-Hour Workweek, and Tribe of Mentors underwent that meditation.

He wasn’t allowed to write, yet the experience was transformative for him. It evolved his way of viewing the world and himself.

Here’s another scenario: you’re like me. You want to live a warrior-like life. Of course, you don’t want to lose touch with your inner artist. Not exactly a common person in the age of idle pleasure, but certainly this archetype is still around.

So what do warriors do? Military service.

When I’m at Marine Officer Candidate School, I’m not going to be able to journal, let alone write Medium articles or draft novel ideas. I’m going to be put through the ringer: waking up at 5AM, eating at a chow hall without looking at my plate, hurdling myself over logs and falling on my face. The list goes on.

The point is this: there are going to be situations in life where you can’t write. The tasks at hand simply demand that you devote your full attention to them and nothing else. And that’s perfectly fine. If the life experience at hand is truly meaningful enough to write about, you’ll remember it well after it’s done. Then you can write about it.

So, the takeaway: don’t cling to your writing so much that it blinds you to valid reasons to pause. I’m not advocating to quit writing, and definitely not promoting a break just because you don’t feel like it that day. But from time to time, your instinct could be right.

Listen to it. Then decide.