I think that if you feel weighted down by work, school or just stress in general, including a lapse in creative thinking, you need to permit yourself time to get back to you. Luckily I am not the only one who thinks so.
SARK has always been a big proponent of living life to the fullest (or juiciest!) and one of her books (Living Juicy) has permission slips for almost every day! Each month you allow yourself something different. My favorite month is the month of naps (or, since I can’t nap, ‘lying still’)
Jen Friel (of Talk Nerdy to Me Lover) also thinks it’s okay to shed some unhappiness and be who are underneath. Here is a little something I got from her:
(she didn’t give it to me personally, you can find it on her site.)I also found the most beautiful permission slip (which I will probably be stuffing into presents and putting under people’s windshield wipers) in this Masterlist:
Please disregard my no-makeup face and crazy eyebrows.
Another note about permission: sometimes you have to look deep inside yourself and think about the permissions you give everyone else, but not yourself. I recently got finished watching The Wire, and in the final episode, Bubbles reads this quote by “Fonzie Kafka” and it got me started thinking about permissions and this post in general: “You can hold back from the suffering of the world, you have free permission to do so, and it is in accordance with your nature. But perhaps the holding back is the one suffering you could have avoided.”
Peppered Thought 
I’m definitely having a “filling the well” period right now, where I’m taking naps, reading, baking, and watching documentaries. I’m observing nature and spending time with people I love, and not obsessing over my work performance, writing something brilliant, and the million-and-one stresses of adult life. I’m not ignoring them, but I’m just not allowing them to be my #1 priority right now.
I think it’s hard for perfectionists to pause for breath, and we do need to feel as if we have permission to do so, sometimes. 🙂
I give you official perfectionist permission to restore balance inside your soul, inhale from the oven of nature, and send me some challah bread! 😉
and you were talkin about my eyebrows! you need to come over so I can fix them “eyebrows”