Posts by Michael Cook2

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the sheer weight of expectation we place on people who create things for a living. We live in this weird, hyper-accelerated era where if you aren't constantly "on," you’re perceived as failing. If you aren't scaling, growing, or aggressively pursuing the next massive milestone, the collective assumption is that you’ve lost your edge or, worse, that you’ve given up.

It’s especially brutal in the creative industries. I have a few friends who are incredibly talented musicians and artists, and I’ve watched them burn through their mental reserves trying to maintain a certain momentum. There’s this unspoken rule that you have to keep the machine running at all times. You have to be touring, you have to be posting, you have to be "relevant." I remember talking to a producer last year who was absolutely falling apart because he felt like he couldn't take a month off to just breathe without his entire career evaporating. It felt like he was running on a treadmill that was set to a speed he couldn't sustain, and the moment he slowed down, he feared the treadmill would just throw him off.

But lately, I’m starting to wonder if the most radical thing a person can do in their career is actually to step back. Not a "strategic pivot" or a "planned hiatus" designed to build hype, but a genuine, raw decision to stop because the current path is no longer viable or healthy.

We see so many public figures go through these massive, highly publicized setbacks or sudden shifts in direction. Usually, the media narrative is all about the "failure" of the plan or the "chaos" of the decision. We focus on the logistics of what went wrong. But I think we miss the much larger, more profound story: the moment someone chooses their own sanity or their own artistic integrity over the momentum of a massive, pre-packaged machine.

There’s a certain kind of bravery in being able to say, "This plan I made is no longer working, and I’m not going to pretend it is just to save face." In a world where "authenticity" is a marketing buzzword, actually practicing it—especially when it carries a professional cost—feels almost extinct. It’s one thing to be authentic in a 30-second clip; it’s another thing entirely to let that authenticity dictate your entire professional trajectory, even if it means dismantling something you worked incredibly hard to build.

I’ve been noticing a shift, though. It feels like there's a growing segment of creators who are realizing that the "old way"—the way that demands constant, grueling output—is a recipe for total burnout. There’s a new kind of independence emerging, one that isn't defined by how many people are watching you, but by how much control you actually have over your own life and your own output. It’s a move away from the "big machine" and toward something more granular, more personal, and ultimately, more sustainable.

It makes me wonder if we are entering a period where "success" is being redefined. For decades, success was a linear climb up a mountain. Now, it feels like success might just be the ability to stay in the game without losing your soul in the process. If you have to break the machine to save the person inside it, isn't that actually a win?

I'm curious to hear from the artists and freelancers here. Have you ever had to kill a project, a plan, or a specific career path that you had poured everything into? Did it feel like a defeat at the time, or did it end up opening doors you didn't even know existed?

I suppose I could pick up the tab if that’s what it takes, haha.

I might have a slightly more expensive solution for you, but it’s how I personally managed to fix my own underweight issues caused by work stress. Just forget about those weight gain supplements or trying to force-feed yourself home-cooked meals when you can barely stomach the idea of cooking in the first place 😉. Set aside some extra cash and treat yourself to dining out every single day at restaurants where you can order larger portions. Why? Because you won't have to deal with the exhaustion of meal prep. You’ll consistently be served high-quality, diverse meals, which will make you feel better and eliminate that sense of nausea, given that restaurant food is rarely unpalatable. My advice is to use this initial phase to expand your appetite; once your energy levels return, you can go back to cooking for yourself. But right now, with all that stress at the office, how are you supposed to find the time or the mental capacity to prepare quality meals that you won't revolt against? Besides, when you're sitting in a restaurant, there’s a psychological sense of obligation to finish everything on your plate. And if you're out with good company, it’s even easier because your mind is diverted from the act of eating itself.

The most critical thing is to rediscover your love for food 😉, and how else can you achieve that if you don't discover the best flavors within it? 🙂 As long as you view food as nothing more than a tedious chore required to keep functioning, you will never truly get back to your old self in the long run. You might gain weight now by forcing yourself to eat, but the moment stress hits again, you'll find yourself right back on the same old path.