You pick up loads of baggage with your first record with reaction to it from fans and critics. So I went to Ireland by myself for a couple of weeks with my guitar. I read lots of poetry I read Patti Smith's autobiography and started words and phrases and then songs started to take shape.
Sticking to a diet required me to have a permanently low self-esteem. But happily I developed other skills beyond a fluctuating weight eventually building up a different source of self-worth.