Hello Internet!
Remember when I used to write Weekly Blogs? Those were the days. I know it has been awhile since I’ve written one of these, but I have a reason it’s been so long. That’s actually what this entire Weekly Blog is about. Of course, since it has been awhile, there have been a lot of other pieces that were published on the website. I figured I’d quickly list them just in case you missed one and wanted to read it. For Poetry I published: “Heat Wave,” ” Summertime Affective Disorder,” ” (No) Respect For Authority,” and “A Troubled Reality (Haiku).” That’s a lot of poetry to catch up if that strikes your fancy. I can’t promise that any of it is that good, but it is technically poetry. I’ve also posted several pieces based on Writing Prompts including “The Titan’s League [D&D],” “They Hunt At Night,” and “Streetlight Escapades.” We have fantasy, horror, and some realistic teen fiction. If you like any of those pieces, you will probably find other things on the website that compliment them well. For example, “The Titan’s League” is a continuation of a Dungeons and Dragons based series I have been writing for awhile. Check out my Special Weekly Blog: Explaining My Dungeons and Dragons Inspired World [D&D] for a quick “clip notes” of the beginning of the story and then just look for Writing Prompt Pieces with the [D&D] following them.
Ok so why has it been such a long time since I’ve uploaded a Weekly Blog to the website which is primarily supposed to be a Blog. This website is described as a Blog/Creative Writing space and Weekly Blogs is a one of the pillars of the website. But since I published a Weekly Blog about Stranger Things Season 3 a month ago, Weekly Blogs have been absent. In one word, the reason behind this is burnout. I feel like burnout will be the “hip” word of 2019 because it seems like every influencer and content creator is talking about it. For those outside the loop, burnout is “a state of emotional, mental, and often physical exhaustion brought on by prolonged or repeated stress” (Psychology Today). In other words, it’s when you are constantly stressed to the point where you suffer from exhaustion and a lack of motivation. It’s such a big thing among YouTubers, Twitch Streamers, and other content creators is because the job is a constant thing that never stops. The constant need to create content and feed the algorithms to stay relevant never has an end and that leads to the creators to become “burned out.” Now I don’t consider myself one of these big time influencers or content creators, but WordPress also has algorithms to feed and creators, writers, photographers, etc. have to keep on creating content for their readers. I’m sure many of them are like me and enjoy creating content and don’t feel like they HAVE to do it, but there is a threshold where you make money off of creating content and then you have to do it if you want to do things like pay rent and eat food. That’s where burnout can become very serious because creating content transforms from a fun hobby into a job without an end.
Now for me, burnout hasn’t become this monstrous weight that threatens to crush me. I see it as more of a wave. There’s this ebb and flow when it comes to me and my creative energy. Sometimes I feel like I’m on top of the world and I just want to write, write, write and sometimes I feel like all my stuff sucks and I have absolutely no motivation to write things. Most of the time when pieces don’t get published it is because I’ve fallen into one of these burnout valleys and I lack any motivation to write. It might be the night before a Writing Prompt Piece is supposed to go up on the website and I feel like I want to scrap the entire thing that I’ve written because I just don’t think it’s any good or maybe it’s unfinished and I can’t find a scrap of motivation to keep me going. More recently, I’ve had a really hard time coming up with subject matter to write my Weekly Blogs on. I finished Stranger Things season 3 when it is still relevant and it made a good subject for a Weekly Blog, but after that I just didn’t have anything to talk about. No big events or exciting adventures or even movies to talk about. I mean there were things to talk about, but none of them really spoke to me. I couldn’t really flesh out an entire blog out of them. So I missed one week, then another, and then another. You know when you don’t talk to someone for awhile and then you want to reach out to them, but you feel awkward because it’s been so long. So you wait and wait and it just becomes longer and longer. It was kind of like that. For a month I didn’t write any Weekly Blogs and with each week, the absence seemed to be more noticeable to me.
I don’t know if any of you even noticed or cared that Weekly Blogs weren’t going up, but I cared. I wanted to write and I want to keep a consistent schedule going, and when things don’t get published, it really hurts me. It kind of feeds into a cycle of burnout and negativity. I have no motivation so I don’t publish anything and then I feel bad for not publishing anything which hurts my already low motivation. It’s truly a vicious cycle.
But maybe I am just making mountains out of molehills. It’s not like anyone is knocking on my door or blowing up my inbox with emails demanding that I release content and when I do release Poems or Writing Prompt pieces, you all still send your love. Even after a horrible summer with inconsistent uploads, I still see a ton of likes sent my way and new readers follow me here on WordPress which is really, really nice. You all are seriously the best and I cannot express what it’s like to be a part of this really nice niche on the internet. I know a lot of you are also content creators and I try my best to share that love back with you. We’re all just writers, artists, photographers, etc. trying our best to leave a nice, positive mark on the world that is filled with passion and creativity. I know we all have bad days or weeks or months or years, but its thanks to you wonderful people that I feel like I can bounce back. I can pick myself off of the ground, brush the dirt off, and get back to writing my next fantasy Writing Prompt piece.
So after those mental gymnastics, where do I fall down on this? Am I still burnt out on Weekly Blogs? Yeah, kinda. Again, I’m going to try my best to publish pieces to the schedule I have set for myself. Weekly Blogs on Sundays, Poetry on Wednesdays, and Writing Prompt pieces on Fridays. Is it always going to happen? Probably not. But I’m going to try and I’m going to take breaks when I need to. There’s nothing wrong with dealing with burnout by turning off the computer and just taking a break. I know that in the long run, it’s better to recuperate and save up some motivation for an amazing piece down the road than to just keep publishing mediocre pieces to meet deadlines I’ve set myself. I’m dealing with burnout like many of you are, but writing honestly helps with that. As I wrote this Weekly Blog, I began to feel better about the whole situation. So thanks for reading this, because writing is way cheaper than therapy!
Thank you for reading that mess of a Weekly Blog. If you liked it, feel free to give it a like and if you don’t Follow me here on WordPress, you can do that as well. I’m slowly growing a positive community here on the internet filled with the nicest and most creative people to help combat negativity and hate which seems to be hiding around every corner on the internet. If you enjoy reading my stuff or just want to spread some positivity, likes, comments, shares, and follows all help with that. No matter if you are a new reader or have been following me for some time, just know that I really appreciate all the love and support. If you really liked this Weekly Blog, you can leave a comment down below. Maybe tell me about the ways you deal with burnout or just share some positive thoughts down in the comments. Those are always appreciated. Also there are over 430 other pieces on the website including Weekly Blogs, Poetry, Writing Prompt pieces, Fanfiction, and other Creative Writing Pieces, so feel free to spend some time on the website checking the rest of those out.
Thank you again for the love and support and I hope you have a wonderful week!
-Allen_The_Writer
Header Photo Credit to Dice.com
https://insights.dice.com/2019/06/03/burnout-now-official-medical-condition/
Allen The Writer 
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