How To Take Care of Your Mental Health as A Writer

  Writers, or any other creative type of career, are often associated with mental illnesses... As well as bust some myths about that, I'm going to share how you can stay mentally healthy as a writer.
  While plenty of creative types to have mental issues, it isn't a qualification and plenty of people are perfectly healthy! However, there's a reason this association exists... I don't know the exact science behind it, but there are reasons that writers or artists are more likely to have a mental illness. Maybe it's all the stress that can come with these jobs, or that we spend excessive amounts of time locked away in a dark closet (or is that just me?), or don't have enough social interaction with people who aren't beta readers/critique partners/editors... But there is a connection, so be sure you take adequate care of yourself!
  First thing, I just want to say, I am not a psychologist/psychiatrist/doctor (yet, working on it!) so be aware that this is just personal experience advice. This is not grounded in science, I have done no research here, this is just what works for me as a writer who has had depression.

1. Mythbusting

  The myth that I'm busting today... If you treat your mental illness, your creativity is going away. This is not true, not in the slightest! Creativity is a part of you, your personality, just you as a person. Unless you whack your head or turn your brain into mush or something, the creativity is here to stay. Mental illness, on the other hand, is a mixture of negative mindsets and chemical imbalances in your brain. It's not a part of you, it's temporary, and the only thing that's going to change when it goes away is that you'll be happy! 

  So if you have or suspect you have a mental illness, go talk to someone. It's not going to hurt your work, I promise. On the contrary, it will help because it's really hard to write in the middle of depression or when you're having an anxiety attack! 

2. Time. Give Yourself Time. 

  Here's the #1 tip I've got; give yourself time. Fun time, downtime, relax time, whatever you need. But don't write all day, because as fun and enjoyable as it is, it's bad for you mentally. You're more likely to get depressed if you sit in the same place writing all day, not to mention the impact that can have on your relationships. 

  Take some time each day to take a walk, go out somewhere, talk to someone, do yoga, anything that's active and gets you out of the house. Activity, outside, and socializing are important factors to staying mentally healthy, and physically healthy as well!

3. Sleep. Do the Thing. 

  I get how hard it can be to stop writing and go to sleep, it's like your brain just works better at night. I'm currently writing this an hour past when I should be asleep and laughing at my own irony while feeling like a horrible hypocrite. But anyway, having a regular sleep schedule and getting enough sleep is huge. 

  Not only does sleep make you happier, give you more energy, and significantly improve every facet of your help, but there are like a million studies on the effects of sleep. It can improve your memory, you retain more information from studying then getting a full night of sleep than staying up too late studying. Lack of sleep can improve your chances of mental illness, not to mention that you're more likely to hallucinate if you are seriously sleep deprived. I could go on for a whole blog post about sleep studies, they count as psychology and I love them. But I'll stop here, you probably get the idea... 

4. Don't Be Afraid of The Help

  If you have an existing condition, don't be afraid to get help. There's seriously nothing wrong with taking medicine to make you happy or getting therapy. There's a stigma about having a mental issue, and then when you try to fix it that's a problem somehow. Don't listen to people, mental disorders are valid and real issues that deserve valid and real solutions, not people telling you you're stupid or weak or whatever because you tried to help yourself. 

  You're an important human being, treat yourself like it. 

5. Stop Worrying. 

  Yes, I'm aware of how hard that is. Don't worry, those words make me laugh, they're so impossible... But see if you can. Just give yourself permission to be imperfect, to be a human, to fail sometimes. I did this once, I just told myself that I was doing this for the experience and not to succeed, just to prove to myself that I could do this. The cool thing is, that not only did I succeed, but I didn't have all the stress that usually comes with doing anything. 

  Mindset hacks, that's what I use. "You're going to fail sometimes, and worrying won't stop it from happening." "You're doing this to prove to yourself that you can put yourself out there, not to succeed." etc. 

And always, always, always remember... You're important, you need to take care of yourself, and as amazing as your book is it is NOT more important than your mental health!