When A Hobby Becomes A Workload: Balancing My Interests with My Mental Health

Since a young age I’ve known that I have a passion for writing. In school I always looked forward to tasks where we’d have to do a creative piece, and the positive feedback I received consistently proved to me that I was good at this. When I began getting into film, I started writing reviews for the films I wanted to talk about - or the ones I could talk about when I wasn’t having a lazy spell, which admittedly could last quite a while. 

The older I get, the more my passion and desire to write grows. Writing is no longer something I do occasionally - it’s something I do regularly. It’s no longer just a hobby, it’s part of my workload. How this has affected me mentally over the last couple of years is quite bizarre, as I expected my constant barrage of deadlines due to pushing myself creatively to backfire spectacularly. Instead, I think writing regularly to deadlines has improved not just my skill, but my mental health as well.

If I don’t have that spark to write about something, whatever it may be, then I’m typically not having a good day.

I’m never really one to think about what I do and how it impacts my mental health, but I’ve always noticed that I’m at my worst whenever I’m not writing. If I don’t have that spark to write about something, whatever it may be, then I’m typically not having a good day. This extends to everything. If I’m not in the mood to write an essay, then I won’t even bother because I’ll be worried that, since that spark isn't there, it won’t be very good. This isn’t ideal when you’ve got deadlines, especially if that spark doesn’t come to you until the last minute but I’ve never been that unlucky - yet.

Writing articles (whether it be for the lovely Courier or otherwise) has always been my preferred creative outlet as it allows me to be personal in a way that essays don’t allow. But again, I have to be in that good mood to be in the zone. When I’m in that right mood, I find that I can often work on multiple articles at the same time, and I can just write - all my ideas and the things I want to talk about come to me without me needing to think about it. 

The relationship between my workload and my work ethic can sometimes be to my detriment.

Sometimes I think I’m a maniac for giving myself so much to do - note-taking for essays, multiple articles at a time, endless drafting, etc. The relationship between my workload and my work ethic can sometimes be to my detriment. However, for the times when I’m lucky to have the itch to write, I feel really happy to do what I do.