Siesta? Sabbatical? Sayonara?
219 published pieces.
140 straight weeks of publishing.
Countless hours spent writing and rewriting.
And now I’m taking a break.
Writing has felt like a slog for the last eight weeks. I’ve shown up and pushed through. Grinded out drafts. Published anyway. There’s a time for that, for forging ahead despite challenge.
But now it’s time to step back and reflect.
The end of summer is near and I’m in the middle of a job hunt. After applying to jobs every day for eleven weeks and hearing nothing back, I’m finally starting to get some interviews. There’s a chance that none of them pan out and I’m back to applying. But I want to throw myself fully at this career search until I land something.
I also want to spend less time digitally engaged.
Writing on my laptop isn’t the same as scrolling Instagram or binging Netflix, but it’s still screen time. Writing is a valuable practice, one that will always be part of my life, but it strips away time I could spend living in the real world.
After writing almost every day for nearly 1,000 days, I think there’s value in taking a break. When I return to writing, I know it will be for the right reasons and with the right intentions, not because of a stubbornness to keep my streak going or out of fear my subscriber count could drop. Letting myself take a break from the grind of publishing every week will also relieve some pressure. It will let me write for the joy of it, not to meet another weekly deadline.
I don’t know when I’ll publish again. Maybe in a week. Maybe in a month. And I don’t know what cadence I’ll adopt. Maybe I’ll publish something next week then not again for another month.
But I still have lots of ideas to share and I hope you’ll be here to read them when I do.
With all my love,
Subscribe for new essays (once I start publishing again!):
The last few weeks:
Thanks for reading!
1 — Leave a like. I’d be grateful if you’d consider tapping the “heart” ❤️ at the top or bottom of this page.
2 — Let’s chat. If you want to share your thoughts, please leave a comment on this post. I’d love to hear from you and I respond to everyone!
3 — Share the love. This post is public so feel free to share it.
P.S. If you want to reach me directly, you can respond to this email or message me on Substack Chat.
The priority is authoring one's life and knowing when it's time to switch direction is the key to living your real story. I'm following you precisely because you're an example of such an author. I'll always be here for what you have to say or share about the human journey Jack.
Jack-this is huge. I honor your integrity and your listening to your soul, and hearing what it is telling you.
A great question in life is: “What is it time for, now?” Now being the key, the important part of the question.
I look forward to what your soul has to say, when it decides it’s time to share something. 👏