Hey, y'all!

I'm sure some of you have noticed (or at least I hope you noticed) that I haven't written/posted an article since before Thanksgiving break. This was due to a lot of reasons, the biggest being that I felt like I was drowning in all aspects of my life. Finals week was right around the corner, I had a million assignments and projects to get done. As well as, studying for exams and wrapping up the fall semester. Although I love writing for the Odyssey and I think it has improved my writing and creativity skills greatly, school comes first. That meant that my articles kept getting pushed to the bottom of my to-do list and I had to prioritize other things before it.

When October came around, I really hit a creative and mental rut. I was turning in articles late because I was focusing on other schoolwork or I had some health issues arise. I was writing articles just to turn them in and meet my deadlines. I wasn't passionate about what I was creating, nor was I proud to put it all over the internet. I was writing what one of my professors would call "fluff" pieces. They weren't that appealing to my readers and the topics sucked because I was just trying to crank something out and get those 500 words on paper.

It took me a while to decide that I needed to take a break from writing and finish the semester strong. I didn't want to push to the side something that I've been passionate about and that has benefited me in the past for more than 2 years now, but I don't regret my decision to do so. It was a very beneficial two months.

I got to finish the semester on a strong note and focus on my final projects and exams. I started coming up with article ideas while in a conversation with someone or randomly throughout my day. It's amazing what your mind can do when it's not under an extreme amount of pressure or constantly worrying/thinking about something to get it done. I feel so much more creative now and I have multiple article topics that I'm excited to write about and get feedback on. I don't think I could've said that at all last semester.

Most importantly, I got to focus more on my mental health. Whenever I did have a chance to take a breathe and focus on myself or do something I wanted to do outside of school work, I usually couldn't because I had another article I waited to write until the last minute. It got hard to juggle school, my social life, my mental and physical health all while trying to come up with article ideas and write them.

Taking two months off of writing for the Odyssey and being on Christmas break, I have come back to UK to start the spring semester and I feel so much better. Not only did I feel like I actually got to take a break from everything school-related, but I also don't have a negative perception when it comes to thinking and writing about articles. I want to make it clear that it is totally OK to take a break from something if you aren't succeeding at it or you've hit a rut somewhere in your life. Life can be hard and sometimes you just need some time to refresh and refocus your mindset.