I resonate with this man’s words so deeply. I’m quite convinced that the reason for my recent burnout (at least when it comes to writing) was that I started treating creativity like work. I sat down every day and forced myself to produce words until I lost all enjoyment of the process and began to despise everything I made.
In all honesty, I am still dealing with the fallout of that burnout even now, months after I clawed my way back into creating regularly (though not daily). And I realized that I never allowed myself any of that: the “bad work,” the experimenting, the playful attempts that can (and sometimes should? 🤷) result in failure. Maybe it's because I know my texts are meant to be published and commented on, which creates a pressure of its own. I don't know.
But now I see that it is absolutely *vital* not to chase perfectionism all the time. It's never perfect anyway - when I reread my early chapters, I genuinely cringe, even though I thought they were absolutely flawless at the time. Ha!
