Taking Mental Health Days + Late Night Creativity!

Heyo Bookaholics!

Some Food For Thought!

So not sure if you’ve noticed yet, but from January 1st 2019, my posting has been a bit funny. Posts are going live around 12:00 to 1:00 AM with the intention of it being related to the following day; with this one being no different. For people in other time-zones, this may not be an issue to any of you; and thank goodness I live in Australia, but I’ve noticed it and wanted to address the issue.

You’re probably wondering “Why is she mentioning all of this?” and “Where did the #FinnFuryRevolution posts go?” Well, there is a simple reason, but this post isn’t just going to be about that.

When I started this 30-days-of-Blogging, I expected to have my posts scheduled (on maybe the following day) and at least a draft ready on WordPress to post at a reasonable time (say 8pm). But that didn’t really happen. Or it did, just to a lesser extent than I had hoped – but we have all year to improve!

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I plan all of my posts out into a journal that looks a lot like this (on right). I love handwriting and I find it an easier way to express all of my ideas. Planning is only one-third of the work though, the other two-thirds is to get the post written then edited/ presentable for publishing. The latter is what happens at 11:50pm.

Scene: I’ve just closed up my auditing (or taxation) exercise book. I’m watching a YouTube video on my phone and preparing myself for bed. 30 minutes later (don’t judge me), I’m cozied up in bed, laptop on my knees, WordPress open in my browser and my blog journal open next to me. It’s time to get creative.

I’m not sure if it’s just me, or if I’m just far more creative at night, and logical in the morning but my motivation to do different tasks is strange depending on the time of day it is.

Why Am I More Creative At Night?! Basically, the brain is weird. The frontal cortex in our human brain processes dopamine and sends the message to us saying: “Hey dude you are like so tired, mind catching some sleep?” The body starts to lose steam, slowing down but not shutting down (because that’d be narcolepsy). The general gist here is that exhaustion spurs creativity because I’m so tired that I go “f*ck it!” and really couldn’t care less about what happens, and damn I am so happy for that!

So here I am, at 12am, lying on my bed and trying to tell you all why my posts are late-ish, and that okay. I’m also really procrastinating talking about the main topic of this post: Taking Mental Health Days.

I was originally going to make this post an apology, about why I hadn’t posted for two days in a row when I had promised 30 days of posting, but then I realised: “Why would I apologise on a blog? Instead, I’ll make a post with a message.” 

It’s okay to take breaks.

After some thought, I realised that no, I don’t need to apologise for your breaks, I need to use them to improve myself and talk about an important topic to my audience. Taking breaks is important. We need to take breaks for many reasons and you should not feel guilty if your break from something you love/ are committed to is caused by either of the following:

  • The activity is causing you to feel stressed/ anxious/ or mentally sick;
  • The activity needs to be sacrificed in order for you to do more important tasks or tasks that have an impeeding deadline;
  • You are feeling mentally sick and need a break;
  • You are having fun in the real world;
  • Any other reason that isn’t laziness.

The last point is completely necessary. Laziness is the number 1 reason that people fail to do things they love. True laziness is when someone who is mentally and physically healthy just plain refuses to do something for well no reason at all (and they know it!).

I have only once attempted a 30-Day-Blogging Challenge like this one once before (two years ago) and I didn’t succeed. Not because I didn’t try, but because I got so busy I never finished it. I am 100% proud of the progress I made back then and that is subconsciously why I am dedicated to doing well at this challenge I have set myself – even if I do deviate from the prompts a little bit.

So yes, I took those two days off of blogging as I was feeling very down and kind of broken the past week and a half, and I just needed some time away from my computer and with my knitting needles for a rejuvenation session. I also had to prioritise my auditing homework over blogging one of those nights as I was being very slow, but in my mood, I did manage to write 1,000 words for my novel REALISE.

The break helped greatly, I am back and thriving and ready to deliver all the amazing blog post ideas I have planned in my head (soon to be on paper). I am loving doing this 30-Day-Blogging as it has taught me prioritisation and let me realise just how much I love to write posts and share my own original content!

Thank you for reading xxx Make sure you get your sleep and have a wonderful second half of your week!

2 e1530100090524 - Taking Mental Health Days + Late Night Creativity!

It’s okay to take a break.

Look after yourself and give yourself the praise and relaxation that you deserve.

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1 - Taking Mental Health Days + Late Night Creativity!

With Love Bree xx

Jan 2019 30 days of blogging 1 - Taking Mental Health Days + Late Night Creativity!

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© Jasper+Spice 2019. All Rights Reserved. Please do not use without my permission. This post was not sponsored, all photos and graphics are of my own creation.
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