Fatigue is a real thing.

You ever look at your to do list and just want to crawl back under the covers? The list might only be: take out the trash, go grocery shopping, mop the floors, but it just seems like it is too much? It isn’t that you are sick, you have had a full nights rest; you are just emotionally and mentally worn out.

For months now I have been working on web posting to different sites, designing art, applying to artshows, creating new art….. and today I sat at my computer realizing that I had ignored it for a couple weeks now. I have been doing my blogs, I have even created new work but I haven’t visited my sites or checked to see how all of my hard work is actually paying or even if it is paying off. There is a part of me that just wanted to step away from being a painter for a little while and go be something else for a few days. I actually started sewing a couple of projects recently. One of them isn’t very difficult and is almost done, but of course I had to step away for a few days for commitments.

It isn’t that I want to give up painting, I really don’t. I am looking at my reference materials and wanting to get back to it; just not yet. What is that about? I think I am creatively fatigued. We can only push for so long before we need to step back for a little bit and recharge. Sure, if a person wants to they can go to college day after day until they have their degree but there is a reason we take a spring break or a summer break. Teachers need time off and so do you; so they shut down the campus.

Developing perseverance is important, we need to learn to push through the tough times as well as the easy ones. Endurance is important but so is our mental and emotional well being. The problem is that sometimes we feel guilty for wanting to just stay in bed. One time I wrote a blog about letting the dishes wait. It is true, sometimes we can just let things sit for a bit. Look; it is like this, the world will keep spinning even if we need to stop for a minute. No one in this world is that important that everything will come to a complete stop if they do. Yes; you will need to play catch up if you take a break. It is alright, you might even get farther faster if you take that needed rest. So take the pillow time, tuck yourself down under the covers and stay there a little longer. You are a grown up and can face the consequences for your choices. Probably more effectively after your nap. Tell me about it when I get up, will you? Or call me tomorrow; I’m sleeping in today.