#work - rest balance

[stuckinapril]

Just a girl who wants to be her mother’s daughter in the ways that matter

[coyoteclan]

I'm a little late to the party but man. What a cool cat huh

@fallenclan's Lee as a (not so quick) warm-up :)

[abrielarnold]

He is now fully and utterly alone, with only these bold parasites harvesting him as his company.

Love & Violence by @thelightningstreak

Knives' characteristation in this fic is. Exquisite. A really nice blend of the different canons.

A really really good take on a redemption that feels earned, but still very him, you know.

[thepeacefulgarden]

[grassintheclouds]

Part 3 [end]

[3416]

dom from the athletic dropped a great article today on his assessment of the leafs play style and why it's resulting in loss after loss. asking your best offensive players to lean into their defensive roles more instead of letting them do what they do best obviously won't get you where you need to be, but it's 100% more a failure with the playoff mindset and coaching than with the individual player's abilities. it was an interesting read, and i agree with so much of it. responsibility really does fall to mitch and auston in so many ways bc they have both developed their offensive and defensive games, but leaning on playing safe just isn't working. run it back with a better dcore and let them be the harlem globetrotters they normally are PLEASE.

[addictivities]

oh

[intotheelliwoods]

Augh, so many things to draw so little time!

[insertsomthinawesome]

I'M BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACK!!! Okay so honestly I have been very very inconsistent over the years with just disappearing for periods of time due to various things 😂 So it probably seemed pretty normal to most people.

But it felt different on my side, so I'm excited to be back in business. I took a month long hiatus! 31 days of not drawing digital art. Its not something I talk about on here? But I've been suffering from some serious long term Art Burnout for.... a really really long time. Long enough that I should've taken a break probably years ago. It finally got so bad that I could barely draw. I was scared to do it (cause it always looked "bad" in my eyes [i'll come back to that]) and doing it was exhausting and disheartening.

I talked it over with somebody and realized that the fear and anger and frustration I felt towards my own artwork was uh. Not Normal or Healthy. And I finally committed to taking a real break for once.

I still drew a little bit by hand? Traditional art has always felt like it has lower stakes for me (i don't often share it online, and sometimes I don't even share it with friends) so I did some of that when I felt like it. But Digital art was completely off the table.

I had put such an immense pressure on myself to make my digital art perfect, to make as much of it as quickly as possible to satisfy something. It wasn't fun anymore. I'm proud of what i've made over the years! But for a long time now the stuff I've been making was made while hating every second of making it. With some rare exceptions.

I hated my art! It was a combination of Perfectionism, taking in too many external expectations, and the burnout. If you hate doing something its kinda hard to love it even when you want too lol. It wasn't "Bad" in the sense that the quality was low and it was ugly! It was "Bad" in the sense that it was unhealthy for me to keep doing it at that point in time.

I'm glad to report though, that with my hiatus officially over as of Wednesday last week: I am once again. In Love. With doing art, and being an artist :)

I put off taking a break for years cause I was scared that taking a break would mean that I would never achieve all the things I wanted to do with art. I was scared it was a stupid and lazy thing to do that would mean I'd never achieve my dreams. And Also even though I kinda hated drawing, I also loved making art. Its a weird duality that I can't even really explain??? I hated it but I also loved it. I wanted it but I also wanted to run from it. It wasn't until I was more mature and had more clarity and insight (and unfortunately also until the problems got worse) that I was finally able to let go of those fears and just do it.

And I'm really really glad I did. It was everything I needed. And I hope to strike a better balance in the future with art. Taking more breaks when I need them, or just when other things have my attention like reading or Video games (Some star rail got played during this time xD)

From the outside things probably aren't going to be that different?? At this point I don't really have any sure plans to post anything I've been drawing since my Hiatus ended. I might or I might not xD I'm still a hobbyist artist taking things at her own pace, but I hope that it shows how much happier I am :)

Whumptober 2023 is being officially put to rest by this post btw! I was in major burnout when that event started, and I'm ready to just, move on from all the past expectations I'd shoved on my shoulders. If I feel like filling any of the prompts or going back to any of the ideas I'd come up for it I will! But I'm not going to worry about doing it unless the desire sets in. Thanks to everybody who's been so kind to me throughout my time on here as an artist! Ya'lls tags and screaming and kind words, the fanfic, the asks and the responses? Its been fantastic :) You guys have made me laugh, smile, and cry tears of joy. I hope from here that things only get better and sweeter! And if I have bad days again, that's okay too.

Here's to 2024 and whatever it may bring ya'll :D 🎉🎉✨✨🧡💜

[canon-can-fight-me]

why do all my main f/os have one thing in common: overworked and/or stressed out

[shesmore-shoebill]

and also not to be too parasocial but i will say that the way that Amanda talks about her approach to productivity and her being prone to workaholic tendencies/powering through/having ways to deal with running on empty/tending towards getting kind of unhealthy when productive. tracks. With what she's spoken about before.

But also like oh Boy im glad she's working on keeping her work and personal lives well balanced. because it seems like. a lot. to say the least. the amount of times amanda casually describes working in an exhausted fugue state..... or being wildly overworked and tired for long stretches of her career..... like damn. There is no denying that she works. Very very hard.

[youngyoo-apologist]

If I ever met Cale I’d laugh in his face because my life is everything he wants his to be (I slack off and he doesn’t)

[blackswaneuroparedux]

Hoc sit negotium tuum hoc otium; hic labor haec quies; in his vigilia, in his etiam somnus reponatur

- Pliny

Let this be your business, let this be your leisure; let this be both your work and your rest.

[frenchy-and-the-sea]

There is a very exquisite agony in playing a game you love so so so so so much, and realizing that one of the other players is trying to play a totally different game than you.

[thepeacefulgarden]

It's great that you're taking a staycation.

Really, it is. Just make sure it's actually a vacation. This is not the time to "catch up" on chores, home improvement projects, or whatever else you (or others) think you "should be" doing. This is not the time for work emails and Zoom calls, either. Give yourself permission to rest, and to not be "on" all the time. Above all, don't feel guilty about taking this time to rest. You need rest.

[opens-up-4-nobody]

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