I have been struggling with writer’s block. Only perhaps calling it “writer’s block” is insufficient. It’s more like “writer’s complete inability to stomach sitting down in the chair to face the notebook.”

There are times in my life when I have pushed and pushed and pushed so hard that my ability to convince myself to just buck up and power through simply dries up and disappears. At a certain point, it becomes too much, and I have to put the pen down for a while: maybe for the rest of the day; maybe for a week; maybe more. In The Artist’s Way, Julia Cameron talks about cultivating practices that refill one’s creative well. She emphasizes how important it is to feed and nourish ourselves when we are doing creative work. She says it is not just important, but critical.

I believe this to be true. And yet, I find that I push myself until I have nothing left to give to the page. Why is that? And how can I begin to make different choices, to live more consciously and sustainably?

I would welcome any thoughts you, as my reader, might have on this subject. What do YOU do when you feel tired and lackluster? How do you refuel?