It’s Okay to Take a Break

It’s been over two months since I posted my last article to this website. It’s the longest hiatus I’ve taken since I started this as a hobby project over a year ago. In that amount of time, the Spring/Summer 2020 fashion season came and went without a word from me, despite the fact that I still kept up with the shows and even made lists of all of the collections I was dying to write about here. I just… didn’t.

There are two things I can do in a case like this: 1) I can beat myself up over failing to stick to the plans I previously set out for myself, sending myself into a toxic spiral of guilt, disgust, and self doubt, or 2) I can take stock of my place in life, where these past couple months have taken me, and where I plan on heading next. While the first choice is one I’ve indulged in more times than I care to admit, let’s examine the second option.

That completely obvious to the point of being annoying saying is true (although you don’t need me to tell you that)- life never stops. It doesn’t slow down to take stock of your feelings, and it doesn’t crouch down in front of you when you collapse from exhaustion to ask if you’re okay. It just keeps going. After moving to a new city and starting a new job I didn’t feel entirely qualified for, these past couple of months have been one big game of catch up. I’ve been devoting so much energy into trying to be good and likable in my new career, that everything else just sort of fell to the wayside. I would come home every day and want to become flat, so I could better lay horizontally and do nothing. I stopped picking up after myself, stopped journaling, stopped doing any kind of creative writing at all, including recording my thoughts on the latest in fashion to all four of my fans (hi, mom!).

While this complete abandonment of initiative outside of work may seem foreign to some people who cope with stress by leaning further into their personal projects, it’s a totally normal reaction when rebuilding your confidence from the ground up. It isn’t lazy to put other things aside. It isn’t wrong to want to rest and clear your mind when you get home. It isn’t wrong to forget about your passion project for weeks, months or even years at a time. While time never stops, there always seems to be enough of it (even too much at some points) to start again. In fact, the reason I chose to finally log back into this site after so long is because, simply put, I missed it. That’s another thing breaks do wonders for- rekindling love for passions that may have lost their sharpness over time. Time away helps the heart grow fonder.

So yes, dear reader, I am back with renewed vigor to continue posting about the things I enjoy most in life- and this is just the start of the next chapter of The Young Eclectic.