Completely relate. It’s sometimes a worrying thing, when you realise you’ve spent so much time writing, getting lost in your thoughts, whilst other stuff (often more seemingly ‘important’ stuff) piles up.

For me, my writing has shifted, it began as an escape, a way of journaling, processing the hurt and confusion I felt. It was about understanding someone else and rediscovering myself after betrayal/depression/invalidation etc. So it was very raw and quite a painful experience at times. However it was also a lifeline in the abyss.

As I healed and let go I took pauses from writing because I recognised when it was beneficial and when it was simply allowing hurt to hang around longer than it needed too.

I stopped writing for about a year. And then began again, when it felt right too. My writing became more reflective, I wanted to pass on some learnings from my experiences in the hope that it may benefit others, but I’m also a ‘creative type’ so I gleam a lot of enjoyment from playing with words and illustration, so there’s a lot for me to gain from writing these days. Kinda like releasing things into the world once and for all.

But even now, that can sometimes mean other things are neglected. The brain doesn’t adhere to schedules, inspiration, ideas, they happen randomly – I have to write immediately – even if it’s just a sentence, a synopsis of an idea. I have no guilt in that. But you learn to prioritise, I find myself ‘doing’ stuff that ‘needs’ doing and freeing up time to write freely with no pressure, but also do other things, take breaks, see friends, engage other hobbies…all of which influences and enhances writing anyway.