7 Different Types of Rest Writers Need to Restore Creativity

The types of rest writers need—did you know there’s more than one?

Usually, when we think of rest, we simply want to get a good night’s sleep.

But if you’ve been regularly writing and publishing over the past year, or even for a few years in a row, you know what it’s like to feel tired in more than one way.

It’s the kind of tiredness that leaves you feeling listless, chronically fatigued, and unable to summon your creative muse.

And it can’t be fixed with one or two good nights’ sleep.

It’s common at the end of the year, but it can attack anytime depending on how busy you’ve been. If you’re struggling to muster the energy you need for your next writing project, consider engaging in a new type of renewal for yourself.

We Need Several Types of Rest to Truly Recover

Dr. Saundra Dalton Smith wrote a book entitled Sacred Rest: Recover Your Life, Renew Your Energy, Restore Your Sanity in which she described the seven types of rest. There are the types she’s found lacking in her clinical practice and research:

1. Physical rest
2. Mental rest
3. Emotional rest
4. Sensory rest
5. Creative rest
6. Social rest
7. Spiritual rest

The idea, according to Dalton-Smith, is to “embrace rest, set boundaries, and seek sanctuary without any guilt, shame, or fear.” She even has a rest quiz you can take to find out what type of rest you need to live your best life.

Dr. Dalton-Smith experienced burnout herself as a physician. At the time, she had two toddlers, a full-time medical practice, and was actively writing and researching. Even when she was getting 8-9 hours of sleep per night, she was still waking up exhausted.

“And that’s when it started to dawn on me that something was missing—that something was greatly missing,” she told Goop. “I started to ask myself the question: What kind of exhausted am I? What kind of fatigue am I experiencing today?”

She also started asking her tired patients that question and consistently heard about the seven types of rest she eventually wrote about.

Let’s take a look at how these different types of rest and how they might help restore writers.

7 Types of Rest Writers Need

1. Physical Rest

This is the type of rest most of us are familiar with—the type that restores the physical body. Dalton-Smith notes that it encompasses both passive and active physical rest. Passive rest includes sleep, naps, and couch time, whereas active rest includes things like yoga, stretching, and massage.

You need it: If you feel physically tired or like you haven’t gotten a good night’s sleep in a while, you need physical rest. Perhaps your body aches and you’re getting sick more often. Writers often experience increased aches and pains in the neck, back, shoulders, hips, and legs from spending too much time at the computer. Yoga, stretching, and gentle exercise can be welcome forms of physical rest.

Types of Rest Writers Need 2. Mental Rest

This is the type of rest that gives the brain a break. It can be a day off work or a morning of meditation where we gradually still our minds and quiet the endless chatter. We avoid reading and studying and browsing, allowing our minds to step away from processing, organizing, and synthesizing information.

You need it: If you’re having trouble concentrating and you’re taking longer than usual to get your projects done, you need this type of rest. Perhaps your mind races with thoughts at night that prevent you from getting a good night’s sleep. You may struggle with memory and recall. (What was that character’s name?)

It’s common for writers to be short on mental rest. Particularly those that hold day jobs may be affected. If your brainpower seems to be dwindling, you need mental rest.

3. Sensory Rest

Every day our senses are giving us information about what we see, hear, feel taste, and smell. Highly sensitive individuals, in particular, can experience the sensory overload that creates fatigue. Sensory rest means turning down the lights, minimizing background noise, and eliminating other sensory distractions. This gives your senses some time off.

This type of rest typically reduces stress, improves cognition, and boosts mood.

You need it: Symptoms of sensory overload include irritation, agitation, and anger. You may have a short temper and become irritated more easily. Writers regularly exposed to the phone ringing, notifications on their email and phone, visual backgrounds on Zoom calls, kids playing, traffic, and dogs barking often need sensory rest.

Types of Rest Writers Need 4. Social Rest

All humans are social creatures, which means that we need social support to experience optimal well-being. Socializing can be fun, but it can also be exhausting, particularly for introverts, and especially when most of the socializing takes place online or virtually.

When interacting socially, we read and process cues from the other person(s). Online interactions make it harder to read social cues, and can therefore require more attention which can lead to stress and fatigue.

Sometimes in-person social interactions are draining too, either because the people we spend time with pull us down or because we are introverted and become naturally drained when socializing. Even positive social interactions can be depleting when they’re with people who need things from us: family, clients, and co-workers, for example.

You need it: If you’re an introverted writer who’s been putting herself out there frequently to market her book, you may be socially exhausted. Even extrovert writers can sometimes need this type of rest. You may start thinking, Can’t I just get some time for myself?

Another sign that you may need social rest is that you’re feeling detached from others. This may be a sign that you’re getting overloaded and need some alone time to recharge.

5. Emotional Rest

Every day we all take on specific roles in our lives. Writer is one of them, but we may also be employees, parents, sisters, brothers, daughters, sons, volunteers, and more. Much of the time we carry what Dalton-Smith refers to as “emotional labor” because we don’t always share with people what we’re feeling. (Usually, it’s not appropriate, so we keep it to ourselves.)

When you come home from a bad day at work, for instance, that doesn’t mean you’re going to share with your kids what a jerk your boss is.

All this labor, however, can wear us out after a while, particularly if we lack someone with whom we can be authentic. Those of us who are people pleasers will find ourselves fatigued this way even more quickly than others.

You need it: Writers have to squash their true feelings quite often if you think about it. You probably rarely express your feelings of disappointment in some of your reviews, for instance, or how intensely a rejection hit you. When your book doesn’t sell as well as you hoped, you try to take it in stride, hiding your feelings of distress and discontent.

If you feel you’re always having to keep your emotions in check and that you never have the opportunity to be truly authentic about what you’re feeling, you need this type of rest.

Types of Rest Writers Need 6. Creative Rest

Creative rest is a type of rest that re-awakens our sense of wonder and awe. It helps us to rekindle our imaginations and opens us up to new ideas and approaches. When we’re creatively rested, we come up with new ideas easily and enjoy daydreaming about them.

As writers, it’s easy for us to become creatively exhausted. After you’ve completed a book, you may feel this way. Certainly, after a book launch you might, as you not only wrote the book, you had to market it which can take a ton more creativity in terms of guest posts, interviews, appearances, making social media graphics, and more.

You need it: You’re feeling dulled out. Maybe you’re suffering from writer’s block. You can’t come up with a new idea to save you, and those you do think of seem stupid or not worth pursuing. You feel uninspired and stuck.

You’ve tried brainstorming and it’s not working, and small problems loom large. This shows up most keenly in your work—when you have no ideas for your new projects, or when your current one seems to be filled with cliches and formulaic writing.

7. Spiritual Rest

This means that you have adequate time to connect to a deep sense of belonging, love, acceptance, and purpose. We need to feel like our work and our efforts matter and are contributing to the greater good. Some people find spiritual rest in religion and religious communities. Others in meditation, retreats, or other types of spiritual renewal.

If you don’t feel like your work has meaning—which is an easy trap for writers to fall into—you may be more likely to suffer from this kind of burnout.

You need it: You feel like your writing (or your work) doesn’t matter. It doesn’t benefit anyone, so why continue with it? You feel like what you’re doing makes no difference and feel a heavy lack of purpose. You may have a hard time connecting to your inner self or a higher power.

What Type of Rest Do You Need?

Now that you know more about the seven types of rest, you can probably determine which type(s) you need the most right now. Here are some ideas on how to get it.

Physical rest: Make sure your room is cool, dark, and quiet, that you have a comfortable mattress, and that you engage in a quiet before-bed routine. Have a daily stretching or yoga practice to get the kinks out, and get to bed 15 minutes earlier than usual.

Mental rest: Take regular breaks during the day. Employing the Pomodoro technique (where you break up your workday into 25-minute increments separated by 5-10 minute rest periods) can work well. Take a day off work. Unplug over the weekend, and banish browsing so your brain can rest from the constant information processing it usually has to do. Try meditating.

Sensory rest: Spend some time in a sensory-deprived atmosphere. That can be as extreme as a float tank or as mild as a quiet, dimly lit living room. You may want to play some soft, relaxing music, but often silence is best. Going on a hike to somewhere there is little to no noise can also be restorative.

Social rest: Spend more time around people who give you energy (rather than just taking it). Prioritize spending time with relationships that revive you. Perhaps you need to join a new group, take a class, or attend a workshop to meet some new people who share your goals and can help you get excited about your writing again.

Emotional rest: Share your feelings with a willing listener—someone who will listen without judgment. Don’t hesitate to talk to a therapist if you need to. In the absence of this type of person, share your feelings in a journal. Establish and maintain boundaries with other people. Take a step back from demanding relationships for a while.

Creative rest: Remove the requirement to produce and get involved in activities that inspire you. Build sabbaticals into your life. Get away from the grind and do something abnormal. Spend some time in nature.

Art is another power catalyst that can pull you out of your doldrums and open you up to new ideas and possibilities. The idea is to allow yourself to experience beauty in any form. It can also help to spruce up your writing nook in a new way that makes it feel more conducive to creativity.

Spiritual rest: The type of restful activities will depend on your own religious and spiritual beliefs. Find a way to connect with your higher power and with your desire for meaning. This may be through religion, community, or any other way that brings you closer to your higher nature.

It can also help you to spend some time looking inward to answer the question: Why do I write? Reconnecting to your purpose that way—beyond publishing, awards, and royalty checks—can give you back the energy and motivation you need to finish your next project.

How do you restore yourself with different types of rest?