Sometimes we have to step away.
Deadlines are crashing around us. Our heart is pounding in time to the headache pushing past the ibuprofen. We are close to tears, but we need to finish this thing even as we fight to focus for more than 60 consecutive seconds.
If you've ever been here, you are not alone. Common sense would suggest that it would be simple and straight forward to just step away from a task creating so much pain, but experience suggests this is not the case.
But it is what needs to happen. The pressure to produce, meet a deadline or "not fail" can keep us pounding our head in tempo to the growing anxiety attack.
There is no secret, but I do have a strategy. I push myself back from the desk and let the tears come. I admit defeat. I say it out loud. "You win." And I feel the relief rush over me. I don't even know who I am talking to, but it works.
I then notify anyone who I was feeling to deliver this thing to. The thing that seemed so impossible (the fear of disappointing others) pales in comparison to the reality of just informing people that we need more time or new boundaries around our time.
I also try to include my social support network here. This could be friends on Discord, a loved one or even a fellow creator. Letting them know we are struggling can help to improve communication and enable them to assist us in future situations.
Something about saying these things out loud takes power away from the unnamed forces that capture us in these dark cycles of dwindling productivity and mounting stress on a project.
We just went through this here at Fable and Folly HQ. Some of you may have seen my message on Discord advising of a delay on an episode. And there was no riot, contrary to what my brain may have been telling me. Instead there was just warm support. You all rock.
All of my love.
- Sean
