Writer’s Fatigue is Just Another Word for Burnout
Self Care Is the Only Way Forward
We all know what the so-called writer’s block is — it’s that process where you feel nothing and you can’t even produce any new work. You’re barricaded off from the creative flow before you can even get started.
Curiously, I’ve been told that writer’s block is just the layman’s term for depression. Yes, that depression.
Depression, as defined by the National Health Service, is more than just a process of feeling sad. It’s an ongoing state of hopelessness, restlessness, and unhappiness where you lose interest in many things.
Some describe depression as the absence of feeling, where one is floating alone in the water. Instead of being in control, the tide is gently drifting you further and further away from meaning.
The writer’s fatigue is fundamentally similar. The difference here is that this sense of dread occurs after writing for very long periods of time. In other words, you are going through burnout.
Burnout, as defined by international behavioural consultant Liggy Webb, is a state of perpetual physical, emotional, and mental exhaustion that is caused by having long periods of stress.
