I Took a Break from Writing, and It Saved Me

Productivity Isn’t Worth the Pain

Photo by Marcos Paulo Prado on Unsplash

I was writing on Medium almost twice a day..It became a part of my routine.
I would wake up, work my full time job with the laptop and mouse for hours, and then jump in straight into writing as soon as I got home. I loved it….or at least I thought I did.

But around the middle of last month, something felt off. My right hand started hurting a lot. The muscles felt tight, and those thick veins on my hand looked swollen.

It was not just a passing thing anymore. Every evening, I would come home and grab a heatable gel pad for a hot compress. It helped for a while, but the pain kept coming back.

I have been through this before…Back then, I ignored it. I kept pushing myself, chasing targets, telling myself…..it’s okay. But it wasn’t really okay . I had ended up with swollen shoulders and a doctor’s appointment that time.

Photo by Jodie Cook on Unsplash

So this time, I decided to pause.

I told myself there’s no point hurting my own body to meet self made deadlines. Writing could wait, the ideas could rest…and so could I.

I took a step back, slowed down, and let myself breathe. Then, a few days turned into a couple of weeks, and slowly the pain faded. I started missing writing, but in a healthy, gentle way.

Now, here I am …back again, and it feels good. Not rushed, not forced. Just here, writing, because I want to.

You know what? Sometimes, that break is all you need.