Why I decided to stop writing.

At least, at the same pace that I’ve been writing at.

For the past six months — since November 28th, 2014, the day after Thanksgiving — I’ve posted on Medium every single day, except for one, but that was because most of my island was out of power.

Most of that time, however, was during my first year of college in a city atmosphere. I had a structured schedule that was the same from day to day, and week to week. And, without having the same outdoor access that I’ve been accustomed too throughout my life, it was easier to find time to write instead of always being out and about.

Basically, I found it a whole lot easier to write during the cold, wet winter months in Seattle than the warm, sunny summer days of island life.

My oh my, what a wonderful summer break it’s been so far.

In one word, I could describe being back home as relieving.

If you’ve ever been to Orcas Island (my home), you’ll know what I mean. Combine some of the essential characteristics of Washington state — beautiful views, friendly and environmentally conscious people, good food, and lots of trees — and that’s practically what I call home. So far, island life is treating me well. Although last Tuesday was my first day off in 12 days, I’ve still been able to take full advantage of living in such a gorgeous location.

I’ve hiked up mountains and been able to hear the fauna surrounding me.

I’ve eaten meals composed of ingredients grown only on island.

On my last day off, I woke up on the top of a mountain.

I’ve watched breath-taking sunsets with old friends.

I’ve sailed on a friend’s newly acquired sailboat.

Today, I picked up a kayak for free from my third grade teacher.

I’ve been able to catch up with countless islanders and update them on my life.

I’ve swam out to islands in the middle of lakes.

Hell, I’ve even witnessed a bald eagle eat a meal consisting of a fish my friend had just caught.

But, most importantly, I’ve finally been able to take a breath of fresh air and rejuvenate myself from one of the most stressful years of my young life. Oh, and I can finally get a quiet night’s sleep.

One of the things that has changed in my life since being back home is that I’m not writing nearly as much as I was before. When I was in school, I was writing everyday and posting once a day about any particular thing that I had an opinion on that day. As an aspiring writer and journalist, I wanted to grow both my social media presence and improve my own writing ability.

I figured that writing everyday and posting on Medium would be a good way to accomplish both. But, since being back on the island for the summer, I had planned to not continue writing as much as I was while I was in school. I wanted to take a bit of a break and be able to enjoy my summer without feeling stressed out to write a post everyday.

Trust me, I don’t plan on not writing for a very long time — that’s why I’m writing this right now. I don’t want to get out of practice and, honestly, it’s been pretty hard not being able to write all the time. Sure, I’ve loved life here on the island, but it’s also pretty difficult to just drop something cold turkey, especially when you’ve been doing it everyday for over six months.

Throughout the summer I’ll post when I can, but it certainly won’t be at the same rate that I was writing at before. Maybe once a week?

When school starts up again at the end of September, I haven’t decided yet if I’m going to resume writing everyday. That’s a long ways away and I’m sure that many things will happen to me during the rest of the summer that could influence my decision. I’m only one year into my college experience, so who knows what my second year has in store for me. I’ll already be writing for my school newspaper, The Daily of UW, and I’m not sure if I’ll be up to balancing my course load, social life, or newspaper responsibilities with an everyday blog. Ideally, I’d post everyday again and keep improving my writing abilities, but I don’t want to ever make myself hate writing, so I have to be careful about how often I do it.

As of now, I really enjoy writing. I just don’t want to jeopardize that by going overboard with it.

Basically, when it comes down to it, I feel compelled to write about what I do, but I also like doing those things without feeling any kinds of stresses or pressures.

Ya know?

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Jack Russillo is a young writer. He’s currently working on a double major consisting of journalism and international studies at the University of Washington in Seattle. He writes for The Daily Newspaper, has his own daily blog, and writes about just about anything as long as he has a particular perspective or opinion on the topic.

Go follow him on Twitter, Instagram, and Medium.

It’ll be worth it.