It's OK To Take A Break From Creating For Mental Health Reasons
You should not feel bad about putting your mental health first.
There's an old saying that says "the 'earth' without 'art' is just 'eh,' and I could not agree more. We consume art every single day and there are many people out there that want to pursue art and continue creating new art for others to consume. What many people tend to not realize a good chunk of the time is that most artists have some form of mental illness, and sometimes, they would need a break from their art because of it. I completely understand this feeling, and no one should ever be discouraged for taking a break from something they love to focus on themselves.
This was one of the biggest reason why I put my YouTube on an indefinite hiatus since this past August. For most of my following that was not following my Facebook, they were completely clueless about my whereabouts and why my channel was put to an abrupt stop. The thing was, I was focusing on my mental health (along with my schoolwork, but I always put my channel on hiatus during the semester). August was around the time I noticed my mental health deteriorating more than it has been that last year, so I made the decision to put my own art on hiatus until further notice.
While I do not know how long it will be until my channel finally comes out of hiatus due to my busy work schedule and focus on my mental health, I want you to know that you are not alone, and it is completely fine to take a break from your art because of those reasons, no matter how long it may take. Everyone experience mental illness differently from each other, which means not everyone will recover in the same amount of time as someone else who has experienced the same disorder.
You probably have heard people constantly say "I'm here for you all the way" or "take your time" or something else along those lines when you made this decision. You're probably tired of hearing these statements constantly and probably want to take your break in peace. If you prefer to not go public about your hiatus from your art, that's okay; if you also want people to know what's going on and would like to go public about the hiatus, that's okay too. You're completely allowed to go by your hiatus however you like to.
Dealing with mental health issues is extremely tough, I'm not going to deny that at all because I know what it's like. You shouldn't feel like you absolutely have to recover at a certain time just because of the pressures of other people have convinced you so. Take your time to recover from whatever you are healing from at the moment, and if that means having to take a break from your art and creations, for the time being, you should not feel discouraged in doing so. The best things often work in progress.
