Life and Whatnot,  Writing

COMEBACKS


Have you ever heard of Tiger Woods? Most have, and even those who don’t follow sports.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94F-HGwIniE]

I like to think of myself as a sporty person. I mean, I watch ESPN with my hubby all the time. I played high school and college tennis. Heck, I even suffered knee injuries that required surgery (yeah, both knees, sadly.)

The media says Tiger is going to be scarier than ever. He was scary even BEFORE these injuries, and he’s saying that he’s feeling stronger than ever!

Did you know that he won the US open with a torn ACL? Oh, and a double stress fracture in his left leg? Amazing.

We’ll have to see what happens when he comes down here to the desert this coming weekend for the Accenture Matchplay. Even though I don’t follow golf . . . I’m hoping he does come back stronger. That’s always fun to see.

Have you ever taken a break from something and felt like you’ve come back stronger? Whether it’s from writing, work, or whatever?

I’ve noticed it with writing, for me. I’ll get stuck, frustrated, or discouraged with something I’m working on and step away. I’ve taken a few weeks off from a project and worked on others before. And when I’ve returned to the original project, my writing is much more fine tuned. Does that make sense?

Even with sports. I’ve worn myself down, gotten too overtrained, and after a couple weeks of active rest, I come back to my main sport stronger.

***

Have you ever experienced that? Whether it’s writing related or not…

***

8 Comments

  • Gwen Stewart

    I took one whole year off teaching when my kids were young. I had requested a part-time position and couldn’t get one, so I resigned.

    I loved being home with my babies. At the same time, I missed teaching SO much. It just reinforced for me how much teaching is a part of me.

    God blessed me so much. The next year, a part-time position opened up at my same district–very unusual in my job. 🙂 I was able to work three days a week and be home four, and don’t feel as if I missed my children’s baby years at all. The year my daughter started kindergarten, the job expanded to full time (thank God for His timing).

    That year off was much needed. It was a time of focusing on my kids, but also a time to learn not to take my profession for granted. I came back refreshed and grateful–not a bad place to be.

    God bless you today, Lynn!

  • Jennifer

    I’ve had the same experience. However, sometimes I do get a little depressed when I take a break from my writing and come back to take a peek at it. And I wonder: What is this drivel I’ve written? But other times, I’ll come back and think, “Hey, that wasn’t so bad after all!” 🙂

  • Kat

    Absomolutely!

    I have a kind of sword-in-the-stone mentality — the harder I push at something, the worse the circumstances become. Sometimes just stepping back allows solutions to appear with ease.

    🙂

  • Travis Inman

    Good morning.
    Yes, I think that it’s a good practice to take a manuscript you’ve been working on and set it down for a while. Let it get cold. When you return, you will notice things you weren’t able to see before.

    I’m also really good at eating, especially when I’ve been away from it for a while.