Daily Positive Thought #12

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When you can't find an ending to your story, take a nap.

Now, that might sound like a strange DPT. Almost like giving up. But that's not what I had in mind. In writing and in life, sometimes things don't go as planned. We make up an outline for where we want to go and what we want to accomplish, and then everything comes crashing down. That's when it's very tempting to give up. I've found myself thinking, this whole book stinks. I should just chuck it out and start something new. Something better. That would be giving up.

Of course there's the old adage, "When the going gets tough, the tough get going." True.

BUT!

Even the toughest, if they don't take a break, rest, recharge, won't make it to the top of the mountain. Those who are tough, know that pacing themselves is important. They don't try to sprint the whole distance of a marathon.

So today's DPT is a reminder (for those of us workaholics who have a hard time doing this naturally) to take some time for yourself to relax and regenerate. Taking a nap once in a while isn't a sin. And many has been the time when I've been completely stuck on a story and after racking my brain for hours I've let go of the conscious struggle, lain down for a nap, and woken with the answer staring me in the face. Rest can do that. In writing and in life. After a rest we can come back to the problems at hand with a new and better perspective.