5 Essential Self-Care Tips For Freelance Writers To Avoid Fatigue

I started writing almost 6 years back as a side hustle to make money outside of my 9 to 5 job. Little did I know, this side hustle will change into a full-time job and I will be a full-time freelance writer.

Though I love to write and always have, writing has changed my life both positively and negatively. If I talk about the positive aspects; creating content for my readers has always been the exciting, thriving, and motivating part. Having said that, thriving and working on multiple projects with multiple clients is being easier said than done.

It was all about getting new projects

I vividly remember those initial months, when I started writing, how amazing it was! In addition to freelance writing, I was writing guest posts for various websites and blogs, articles for my own blog, and Medium. I had such a different attitude towards work. Growing my stats, growing the number of jobs was the primary aim; which I did, increasing the amount of content I made and for a while it was exciting and I was thriving, full of motivation.

I was forcing myself to write thousands of words a day, writing each second of my time, just to retain more and more clients, and to meet deadlines. Consequently, I couldn’t focus, create new ideas, and my writing was in mess. Getting new clients became tough, and each month felt like a rut. I was tired and badly needed a break. But I also knew that I didn’t want to do anything else besides writing, so I dug deeper into the problem and decided to take charge of my life.

Striking the right balance

I started taking more projects in my niche rather than writing all kinds of content. I landed up with a few substantial projects and I started feeling invigorated again. While now my content creation is much more in sync with my niche, I believe that I’m not the only one who experienced writer’s fatigue.

Writing is an isolated and sometimes mind-numbing job. You need to take care of yourself appropriately otherwise, there are chances that you may experience tiredness and fatigue. Moreover, self-care is kind of complicated for a freelance writer since you need to find an equilibrium between your needs and your clientele.

I have realized; you cannot always sink into the fantasy of being your boss, imagining yourself tapping productively away on your laptop. Sooner or later, you need to tweak the version of your own story a little, here and there. The truth is, being a freelance writer means being organized and self-motivated; it also requires the ability to adapt to an ever-changing work schedule.

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Check out these 5 self-care tips that helped me to come up with my own schedule and yet made me stay productive. Hopefully, these tips will help you, too –

1 – Use meditation to improve your writing

Meditation is vital for everyone. It increases the balance in your life and especially makes you connect to your inner being, reduces stress and makes you stay happy. Meditation for writers  is a helpful strategy when you are in an imaginative groove. Moreover, if you’re spending most of your day indoors writing by yourself, you need to start emphasizing mediation to restore your mental well-being.

Meditation gives you complete control of your life and activities. Being a writer, I believe, meditation enhances the capability to concentrate which makes it easy for us to write within short intervals of time and involve in other day -to- day activities too.

2 – Exercise regularly

According to a study; exercise guards your memory and thinking skills. Therefore, it is necessary to include ‘workout or exercise’ on your agenda. start small and work your way up. You can join a gym, buy home gym equipment for use, start going for a walk, run or jog. Such kind of physical activity makes your brain active enough to produce writings and material in a larger volume.

Also, make sure to get a comfortable desk and a chair that aid in your sitting posture. Drooping on the seat or lounging on chair while writing makes it hard to concentrate and you get drained swiftly.

3 – Get more quality sleep

You must have heard how important sleep is! It is your body’s technique of mending damaged cells. If you are sleep-deprived, the value of your work will suffer.

One of the main reasons you experience writer’s block at times is exhaustion. therefore, when you need rest, take a rest, or go ahead and nap. Try to make a consistent and fixed sleeping routine. Your body releases specific hormones at night which aid in restoring your energy levels; eventually leading to increased productivity and creativity at work.

4 – The importance of having a social life

Writers are particularly susceptible to zilch social life as we spend most of our time alone finishing our writing projects and meeting deadlines. It is necessary to take some time out and mingle with others.

Join a hobby class or a community, attend events, emphasize networking etc. When you meet new people or socialize you tend to open up to new ideas and stories which undoubtedly adds to your creativity; which is an integral aspect of being a writer. Always set aside some time for yourself; maybe on weekends for such stuff and you will realize how lively and creative you will feel after that.

5 – Keep your life simple

There is a reason why everyone is talking about ‘minimalism’ these days. Keeping everything unpretentious is one of the main principles of living a happy life.

If your freelance writing schedule is complex, then try to look for ways to streamline your calendar and start making things simpler. Most importantly, don’t stress yourself to meet deadlines. Learn to say no to ‘new work’ if you are already full of projects.

All these teeny-weeny changes will make your life easier, and your mental health will thank you.

Conclusion

Freelance writing is one of the remarkable careers today. Though There are immense trials and hardships you have to struggle with during your freelancing journey. Taking care of physical health and mental well-being is one of them. You do not need to include various self-care tips all at once into your life; However, you can start by including one and then working your way up gradually. Always choose to line up yourself and establish yourself up for long-lasting triumph.

Image source: pixabay

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