Initially, I had planned to have this as my first article back after the break. However, I took a detour and instead shared my writing journey to date. That was essential in reminding me why I do this, how we got here, and also give clarity going forward. 

As I shared in that article, taking this break was not an easy decision, but it was an important step at that time. During this break, I did a lot of thinking, self introspection, and planning, so I could come back motivated, revitalized, and a better writer. 

In this piece, as the title says, I’ll be sharing some lessons I learned from taking a break from writing on my blog for a year. 

7 things I learned from quitting writing for 12 months

  1. Burnout: Burnout is real and burnout can happen to anyone. While I may not know the exact causes of burnout, I believe I experienced some variant of it. If you are feeling burned out, please don’t ignore yourself. Listen to your mind and to your body. Try to identify the root causes of this burnout and try to find a way to get out of the rot. For me, with the pressures of grad school, research, trying to graduate, getting started at a new job, and many personal life changes, there was a lot I was dealing with. I was honestly spent. During this break, I figured out what I needed to do to deal with burnout, and more importantly, proactively prevent it from reoccurring.
  2. Priorities per time: As I mentioned in the previous point, I was dealing with a lot at the time and navigating many changes, so I had to deprioritize writing on my blog. Another thing this period taught me is that we definitely cannot carry everything equally all at the same time. I like to think of myself and my energy as 100%; so I allocate different percentages of myself as a resource to different things per time. At some point, you might have to prioritize some things and deprioritize others. That is totally okay. These priorities also change with time and you have to acknowledge when these changes are necessary, so you don’t stretch yourself thin.
  3. Rest: Rest is very important. There’s a popular saying that goes, “if you don’t pick a day to rest, your body will pick it for you, and it probably won’t be at a convenient time”. During this break, I saw first hand the importance of rest, how rejuvenated it can make you feel, how much clarity it offers, and how strong you come back. As opposed to what a lot of us have been taught and even how the world around us tries to portray it, prioritizing rest should not be an afterthought and you honestly should not feel guilty for taking time to rest. Our bodies need rest, our minds, our emotions, our creativity, and even our mental wellbeing equally needs rest. This is something I observed during this break and I can clearly see a difference before and after prioritizing my rest.
  4. Self care: Closely linked to rest, it was also really important to me to replenish my cup before I kept pouring out from it. In addition to taking a break from writing articles, I had to take a break from numerous coffee chats, responding to some emails, and saying no to a lot of obligations during this period. During this time, I invested in self care routines, taking care of my physical, mental, and psychological health, investing in my hobbies, and spending leisure time with my loved ones. This really rejuvenated me. 
  5. Redefine your why: Although breaks can be good, it is important not to lose sight of the vision and goal. Try to remember or even redefine why you do what you do. I had to ask myself why I wanted to write on my blog. Why did I love sharing? What was the essence of my writing? This gave me clarity and also helped me refine my vision going forward. Sometimes, it might just be that you had forgotten why you decided to do something in the first place. Or maybe the previous vision was outdated and you need to redefine what’s driving you. For me, I had to acknowledge a few things. First, the season of grad school in my life has passed. Also, my previous vision was to share my story and knowledge with people to teach from my experiences, share lessons, and help people navigate. However, due to my current phase in life and my career, I’ve had to redefine this why. I’ve decided to pivot my motivation to be more around curiosity. Sharing things I find interesting, exciting, scary, confusing, or just something I wish to learn, with the hopes that it can be of value to even one person. 
  6. Dealing with feelings of failure, guilt, and the need for external validation: This is something I had to deal with personally when I took the break from my blog. I felt a lot of guilt, like I had failed myself, my family and friends, and you, my readers. I wondered if I was quitting too easily and if I should have still tried to power through without taking the break. I also had to sit with my need for external validation, how it had filled some part of my life, tying my worth to it, and how I can rid myself of the need for that. People will not always understand why you do certain things or applaud you at all times, so you have to learn to validate yourself without waiting for the crowd’s ovation. Who are you when no one is watching? When no one is clapping? When it is all silent? When it’s your planting or waiting season and there are no visible results to show yet? These are things to ponder on.
  7. My passion: The final lesson I would like to share from my break is I realized that I am a very passionate person and I must protect this passion fiercely. When I talk about passion here, I am not referring to the term people often use to define their purpose in life or what they should be doing. In this case I am referring to the intensity and the drive with which I like to approach life. In the months leading up to the break, and even in the first few months after, I lost this passion. I was flatly going through life, just going through the motions. But as I spent more time during the break, I saw my passion come back, I saw the spark rekindle. I’ve seen how important it is to me and my mental health to maintain this passion, channel it carefully to things that are important to me and where reciprocated, as well as, constantly refueling to keep the fire burning.

What was I up to during the break?

Now that I have shared the 7 lessons I learned from my time away from writing, what was I actually up to during this time? I’ll quickly run through some of the major things I filled my time with. Take this as an informal end of year review (Fun fact: I actually miss doing these). So, let’s get right to it. 

Firstly, I had some personal life changes, I got engaged and then married. From my experience planning the weddings, I have written a wedding planning e-book to guide potential brides and grooms through the entire process. I’m excited to launch this in the next couple of weeks! Career-wise, I got a promotion and have continued to do exciting and challenging projects on my team.

Outside of work, I picked up new hobbies such as mobile video editing, and I resumed older hobbies I had given up like swimming and baking. I also spent a lot of time working on my fitness, going to the gym, and being intentional with my diet. Although I did not travel as much (I need to change this next year), I had a few trips. I also picked up a personal tech project (finally) and shared my knowledge at a tech webinar earlier in the year. Finally, I volunteered with organizations in my community and I got back to reading.

Conclusion

I hope you were able to pick up a few lessons from the points shared in this article. Could you relate to any? Let me know which you could relate to most. 

In all, this was a much-needed break and I’m very glad I took it. I’m so thankful I was able to pause and take some time to re-energize and restrategize. This is a privilege I don’t take for granted.

Again, I really appreciate you all for your patience, kindness, encouragement, and warm reception upon my return to the blog. I hope you’re having a great end to your year, resting, spending time with loved ones, retrospecting, planning for the new year, and having fun. 

I wish you a happy holidays and a wonderful 2026!