From Edie: Beth Vogt shares why writing can feel so stressful when it competes with work, family, health, and other priorities—and how writers can navigate those choices.
Why Writing Feels So Stressful: When Writing Competes with the Rest of Your Life
by Beth K. Vogt @BethVogt
Does writing ever stress you out?
I typed that question, sat back, and tried to imagine people’s various responses.
Does writing ever stress me out?
Are you kidding, Beth? Do you know how difficult it is to find time to write when I work a fulltime job?
I just finished a brutal editing deadline and I'm still stressed out!
You can’t begin to imagine the daily struggles I face with a chronic illness. My dreams of publication seem further and further away. Some days I just want to give up.
Every writer I know, no matter how much they love writing, gets stressed out by writing.
The mental anxiety is unavoidable.
Why?
The easy answer: Life.
Here’s another answer: Competing values.
Does that term sound familiar? Competing values is a fiction technique used to develop tension in novels. Example: We determine our heroine values both her small-town roots and the love of a man who travels the world. Then we force her to choose between the two. Doing so causes tension because no one likes to choose between two things that are equally important to them.
We have personal values in real life too—what we judge is important in our life. Values can include:
- Courage
- Kindness
- Honor
- Perseverance
- Success
- Wealth
- Health
Let’s circle back to writing being stressful, shall we?
As creatives who express our giftedness through words, it’s obvious we value writing. Just go ahead and put “writing” on a mental list of personal values. Here’s another question for you:
What else would you add to your list of personal values? What else is important to you? Family? Your “real” job? Church? Volunteering? Caregiving? Exercise?
When we’re forced to choose between writing and (fill in the blank with one of those other things you judge is important in your life), that’s when stress ramps up. The reason we have to choose? We only have so much time in our day, money in the bank, mental and physical energy to expend.
Do I have an answer to resolve this tension?
No.
This is more of a reality check kind of blog post.
We all value more than one thing. We are creatives who reflect God to the world through our words. We also value other things (and people) and use the gifts God has given us in those facets of our life too.
Sometimes we juggle writing and everything else.
That’s stressful.
Sometimes we temporarily pause some things—like meeting friends for coffee or exercising like we need too—while we write. Or we pause writing while we do the other stuff—like facing a health crisis or adjusting to being a newlywed.
Also stressful.
We will always face choices between competing values, day in and day out. Let’s also remember to ask God to guide us as we make our choices and to weave His lavish grace through it all.
TWEETABLE
