Now that you’re here, you can as well grab a seat and a snack, and find out why you haven’t heard from me in what seems to be ages.

Over the many years I’ve been writing, there had been times I had to take breaks and focus on something else because of burnout, but a year plus ago, I wanted to ‘burn away’—never to be seen or heard. I wanted to forget completely about sharing my work on my social media pages, and I contemplated going off them completely.

At first, I felt I was just in a phase that will pass and I’ll be up and about again creating content and doing what I really liked. I took a break from the major way I shared content—the primary reason I was active on social media, which is my blog. I wasn’t writing or sharing anything for about six months and that was a great relief for me. I resumed sharing again in May 2021 with a different kind of energy. The desire to ‘burn away’ was still burning but I was able to keep up with creating content.

Five months after, I wanted to dissolve like salt in water—never to be seen, never to be heard, and to be completely forgotten. While I wasn’t thinking of deleting my blog—still wanted to retain my years of hard work—I knew I had to bring it to an end. I’d created 3 months’ content, but I couldn’t bring myself to share it.

Last year, I started my master’s programme in Creative Writing, and that ‘forced’ me to write every week. I was working with prompts for creative pieces and I was reading works that took different forms. In the past, I focused more on content writing, but because of school work, I turned to creative writing. And with this came a different form of energy.

I was writing and stockpiling my creative pieces and my new goal was to send them off to literary journals rather than share them on my social media page because I had a struggle. I didn’t want to be inconsistent with sharing, so what came to my mind was not to share at all.

Well, I’ve pushed myself to share because I’ve found out the reasons for my ‘burn away’ phase, and I will be doing my readers and myself a great disservice by allowing it to keep me away from doing what I love.

So, I’m gradually coming out of that ‘burn away’ phase. I’m not picking up my primary blog (at least not yet, that will be later in the foreseeable future, or a here and there in the now, but it’s still accessible), but I’ll be sharing some of my creative works and my writing experiences on my website.

However, I HEREBY SOLEMNLY PROMISE NOT TO PUT MYSELF UNDER INTENSE PRESSURE OF SHARING CONTENT CONSISTENTLY AT THIS STAGE, BUT TO TAKE THIS RECOVERY PHASE ONE STEP AT A TIME UNTIL I REACH FULL WRITING HEALTH. SO HELP ME GOD.

Whoops! You sat through this to read my story. I say a big thank you, and see you when next I see you.

If you’ve ever experienced this and you do not mind sharing, do so in the comment section. T for thanks.

Oluwakemi.