Things You Can Do to Take a Break From Art

Burnout is a common experience that many artists go through when they put a lot of pressure on themselves and swiftly do a lot of art projects without any breaks. While burnout is more complex and there are other causes for it (https://hbr.org/2019/07/6-causes-of-burnout-and-how-to-avoid-them), taking a break will be an effective way to prevent burnout for most people. However, when art is all you do, taking a break may be more tricky, because what else can you do? Stare into the void?

While that is one way to take a break, there are a variety of other activities you can do either in your home or out of it. There are four things you can do to take a break. While these are not the only ways, these four activities are easy to do and usually cheap as well.

Focus On Other Hobbies

Odds are, art is not the only hobby you have. It is possible that you enjoy playing video games, solving puzzles, or you are in the process of studying something for fun such as a new skill or a language. If art is proving to be difficult for you, or it’s been a while since you have done something else, then perhaps it is about time to change course for a while and do something else for a while.

A lot of other hobbies you can pursue in this time not only would give your mind a break, but anything you learn from your break can benefit your art as well! However, how they might benefit you is highly individualized and will depend on what kind of art you do and what types of hobbies you have with it. If nothing else, then a common benefit is that it lets your mind recharge and you’ll go back to your art feeling refreshed and perhaps creating better things than ever.

Go On a Walk

If you have access to nature, then there is nothing more freeing and healing than surrounding yourself with it and taking a walk. It is a free and simple form of exercise that is a short escape from the sedentary lifestyle that comes from spending hours at a desk or in bed working on projects. If you are a collector of physical media and have a portable CD or cassette tape player, then it can also be a great way to take a break from screens as well. In this way, your phone can stay at home or in the car depending on how accessible you want to be at that moment.

Humans are meant to be surrounded by nature and spend time in the sunlight. We are supposed to enjoy some time outside, even if that amount of time someone can afford is less than an hour. A small amount of time spent surrounded by trees is better than no time at all, and you might even find inspiration or new creative energy by spending time surrounded by plants and wildlife.

Read a Book

Art can be best improved by consuming more art. Reading a book can show you ideas, tropes, and plot points that someone else came up with that you can experiment with yourself no matter what medium that is through. Reading books also expose you to other experiences that are invaluable to anyone and can give more variety in your work.

However, reading books is not the only way to experience other art. Attending art galleries, watching Youtube videos, and even listening to music are all ways to experience what other artists have to say. But the most accessible screen-free way of experiencing art is reading books. Book ownership does not have the highest entry price point when it comes to collection hobbies, and many areas have libraries that make access to books completely free should you either lack the budget or the space to start forming your own personal library.

Books are not the only potentially screen-free way to enjoy art. CDs and Vinyls are making a return in the music industry, and you can even find audio books in CD form. Many art galleries either have free days or benefits for those on food stamps so more people can have access to the arts and benefit from experiencing them.

For collecting physical media, do keep in mind that price points do vary. While there are cheap things you can find, both from retailers and second-hand, there are no limits to how high a price point will go. So make sure to practice good budgeting skills and don’t stress if there are long periods where your personal library doesn't get any additions.

Try Something New

Finally, you can take your time away from art to try out new things. There are billions of things you can do out there in the world, and there is no reason to waste it on just a handful. Perhaps there’s something you always wanted to do, but your creative projects feels like it eats up all your time and you never get the chance to try it out.

But with a healthy break and needing something else to do for the day, week, month, or however long you want to rest those creative muscles, why not try that thing out in the meantime? Your time will be open enough to give it a shot, and the worst thing that can happen is that you find out you don’t enjoy it, a situation that is better to be in than never knowing if you do enjoy it.

Conclusion

This is not a comprehensive list of things you can do while staying away from art for a little while. There are so much you can do in order to pass the time that either uses your brain in other ways or give your mind a rest completely. So while the advice here may be on the basic side, it will hopefully be a good launchpad that will eventually lead to interesting and cool things you will find out about yourself.

If you would like to try to create while not coming up with any ideas yourself, feel free to check out these cheap and easy craft ideas: https://dextiveblog.blogspot.com/2025/06/cheap-and-easy-craft-ideas.html

These crafts are easy, simple, and meant to be relaxing.