7 Tips for When You're in a Funk

Welcome to the Author Audience show, the podcast that helps you reach more people with your message. Create a book, connect with your audience, change lives. Here's your host, Shelly Hitz.

Have you just been in a funk lately? You know what I mean? Mentally or whatever. It's just like you just can't.

Feel normal and move forward. And maybe it's causing writer's block. Maybe it's depression. Maybe it's something else and you just feel in a funk. Hi, my name is Shelly Hitz. I'm an author coach@authoraudienceacademy.com and I'm on a mission to help you reach more people with your message. It's time to let your light shine. And when we are in these funks, because we all get them. We all have those moments. Let's just admit I'm a very optimistic, positive person. I really don't normally struggle with depression, but the last probably month or so, as I've been deep into this book project, Broken crayons still color. I have been in a funk. And I remember recently, it was just last week for almost a week, I could almost not do anything, like get out of my pajamas, and I would just sit the whole time. And now my back is sore, my neck is sore because I was doing stuff on my iPad. I was sitting there practicing my hand lettering. It's a new hobby I have. So anyways, I just was in a funk. And I was like, okay, I'm sure I'm not the only one. But today I wanted to Share with you 7 tips for when you're in a funk. I told my husband, I was like, I feel like I've been in depression. He said, I don't know that it's been depression. He said, I think it's oppression. Because I really do think it is partly a spiritual battle because of what I'm sharing and what I'm teaching and what I'm doing in this new book and video series. But whatever it is for you, I just want to share seven different tips. First, I believe, is to pray and ask for prayer. So I decided immediately when I started this project. And I could feel the resistance. I mean, I felt it from day one. Cause I actually put the book off for a year. And I don't know if any of you have done that where, you know you're supposed to write something, but you just don't want to. You're like, I'm gonna put this off. I decided to send regular updates to my prayer team. So I have an entire training on my Blog all about forming a prayer team. You can just go to shellyhits.com, there's a little search bar. Type in prayer team. You'll find it there. But I recommend every Christian author have a prayer team. And then number two is sometimes you simply need to feel your emotions. So I was really, really, really low one day last week. Like, really low. And I think sometimes it even shocks CJ because he's not used to seeing me like that. I'm usually upbeat and enthusiastic and I'm the one cheering him on and motivating. And you guys know how I am on my videos. That's just my personality. That's who God has created me to be. But I was low. And he said, shelly, I think I just need to pray for you. And so he put his hands on me and he prayed for me. And while he was praying for me, I just started sobbing and sobbing. And you know what? Sometimes we need to feel our emotions. Writing this book has brought a lot of emotions to the surface. I've had to deal with some stuff again that I thought I'd already dealt with. I had to talk about stuff again that it's not always easy to talk about, but I just started sobbing and sobbing. And sometimes tears can be cleansing tears when we allow ourselves to feel. Feel what you're feeling and allow that to flow through number three, Sometimes we need to take some time off. I've had really, really extreme deadlines over the last month or so trying to really get the book done. And I mean, I've talked about it in other videos, so I'm sure you probably have already heard. But I have all of these things that I have to do every week in order to stay on stuff schedule. Now I can always push it back if needed, but so far I'm still on schedule. But sometimes you need to take some time off. So I took a couple days almost completely off last week and just did not do any work. I didn't really feel like I could do it. You know, I wasn't in a place mentally anyways to do it. But sometimes we just need to unplug, take some time away and take some time off. And it is okay if you need to pivot and shift and you might need to change the deadlines or change things up a little bit. And I felt like God was saying that to me because I'm a driven person, but I felt like he was saying, shelly, it's okay. It's okay if you have to move this back. It's okay if you don't get everything done right now. These are things that you're putting on yourself. Pressure you're putting on yourself, and it's not helping. And I finally was like, okay, if I don't get it done this week, it's not the end of the world. If I don't publish this book in November, it's not the end of the world. I. I really do want to publish it in November so it's ready for the Christmas book buying season. They say that a majority of books are purchased from November 15th through January 15th. And we are starting an accountability group to get your book published for Christmas before Christmas in authoraudienceacademy.com we're starting that in September if you'd like to join us. And I'm going to be continuing to work on my book, and that's my goal, is to have it finished by that book buying season. But I also had to let myself realize it's okay if I don't get it done. Number four is to get into nature. And so I force myself to get out and take some walks and to get out and be in the sunshine and the fresh air. Sometimes, if you have a trail close by or whatever it is, a little woods area, park, it's just so refreshing just to be in nature, disconnect from technology, and reconnect to our creator and nature. Number five, listen to music. This is something that has been proven through research to actually change your mood. So I have several playlists that I have on my phone. They're available through Amazon prime, so I can get it onto my computer as well. And I have different playlists that I can just put on and I can just listen to that music and it can almost immediately start helping to change my mood as well. It doesn't always do the trick just of the complete flip, but it really does help. Number six, sometimes it helps to talk to someone you trust. My mom and my sister, my husband are three people that I talk to, and I'm able to kind of process some things and be able to process and talk. And sometimes talking to a pastor or a counselor can be very helpful. I've actually been through Christian counseling many times, and it's really been helpful just to talk it out, process it. Sometimes the swirling thoughts get going up in our mind, and we can't get free of those swirling thoughts until we get it out. Journaling can be something that can help as well. When I recommend journaling, people are like, but I don't want anyone to see my journal tear it up, throw it away, destroy it afterwards if you have to. Sometimes it's just good to get it out on paper. And then number seven is to reevaluate. So I've been reevaluating my systems the way I do things, reevaluating my book project. It went from 12 weeks to now seven weeks. First it went to eight weeks. Now it's at seven. And I'm like, this is a good size. This is a good length. I'm now over halfway through. And sometimes you just need to reevaluate. It's okay. You don't have to feel bad about changing something or modifying something. Sometimes we need that. We need that at times. And so a bonus tip is if you are in a funk, be careful about making decisions too quickly, because our emotions can sometimes take get the best of us. But give some time to whatever major decision you want to do and see if you still feel the same way a couple days later. Many times when I'm in a funk the very next day, it's like the Bible says, his mercies are new every morning. Great is his faithfulness. Well, I'll wake up in the morning and it's almost like a new start, a fresh start, and I'll actually feel completely different the next day. And I'll be so glad I didn't make a rash decision in the moment when I was in the funk, you know? And so what helps you? What else? I shared this inside my private group for Author Audience Academy and had just a ton of really, really good feedback. So if you're listening on my podcast, I would really appreciate if you would leave your honest review and just help spread the word of the podcast to more people. You can find out more information on how to do that@shellyhits.com iTunes or whether it's itunes or stitcher or wherever you listen to, you can go there. If you're watching on YouTube, I encourage you to subscrib and to leave me a comment and like this video. Just let me know you're here and that you're enjoying these trainings. And if you want to catch me live, I record my trainings live on Facebook. My Facebook page is facebook.com authoraudience and you can subscribe to get updates when I'm live and you can interact with me. I love to have you guys on live with me. And then these live broadcasts get transcribed, edited, and they end up on my blog, YouTube and podcast. Thank you guys so much for being with me here today. And I pray that whether you're in a funk now or later that these tips will help you and you will continue to move forward in your book project. I love to help you cross the finish line. You know, they say a lot of stress that people face is because they have so many unfinished projects. It's really good just to start completing things and that's what I specialize in. I'm a get it done type of author coach and I'd love to serve you in Inside My Academy. It's@authoraudienceacademy.com I'm in that Facebook group active every day, multiple times a day, and I am cheering you on. So you guys have a great rest of your day and I'll see you next time. Bye Bye.

Thanks for listening to this episode of the Author Audience Show. Connect with us online@authoraudience.com where you'll find all the resources mentioned in today's episode. While you're there, grab Shelly's free video training on how to write and publish your book using her Six Step Ascent method. Join us again next week to learn how to reach your audience with your message.