Take the time you need to refocus.

It'd be unrealistic to think you could go to your site and NOT look at the stats if it's already in your nature to care about them. The same applies to the forums... it's hard not to act/react according to your nature.

Take the break, come back at it fresh when your ready.

dont feel embarrassed! this is a pretty common problem that no creator should be ashamed of

i feel like every artist has done this - lately ive been feeling pretty down on update days bc i havent had anywhere near the engagement i had last year, and i know a lot of my friends and myself have gone through obsessing over stats

maybe, but not necessarily. if youre still enjoying making the work and sharing it with your readers then you should keep going!

however, taking a hiatus for your health (or any reason) wouldnt be selfish

this might be necessary, yeah. if youre obsessing over stats the best way to detox is to go cold turkey for a little bit - and hey, then youll be able to reply to lots of comments when you come back! it could even be worth doing as much of a complete digital detox as possible - things like instagram likes and retweets can have the same effect, and getting away from all of that can really help you de-obsess

Sorry you feel that way, sounds very stressful! D: I think both of your options are viable, but I'll offer some insight on both:

• Taking a Break

This is totally an okay thing for a creator to do, so if you go this route don't feel too bad about it! I do think it's important to let your readers know if you do though. Either make a post to your wall with the notification enabled or even an intermission episode in your novel letting people know that you'll be on hiatus for a while. This way you show you care about them still but need some time for yourself! Most readers seem very understanding of this~

• Just update, no interaction

You could potentially do this to avoid hiatus, but do keep in mind how this makes you look in the eyes of your readers. If you used to like and reply to people's comments and then just abruptly stop, it might make you seem a little standoffish. If you go this route I would try to ignore your stats to the best of your ability, but still engage with your readers!

Regardless of which approach you take, I think it's important for you to take a step back and reevaluate why it is that you write. Presumably it's because writing is something that you enjoy a lot! Don't let stats get in the way of that. Of course having people enjoy our work is important to everyone who shares online, but it's important to not let that get in the way of honing your craft and enjoying yourself along the way~ For some people sharing online is a good motivator, but for others it gets in the way. If posting your work is hurting more than helping it may be worth evaluating if you're better off taking that break after all to practice some and return with a bang later >;D There's def no 1 right answer though, try to figure out what's best for you ultimately :>

Others have given some good thoughts on taking a break, which sometimes is the best thing to do! If this is abnormal for you, then stepping away and finding space to breathe can be helpful.

But...

If this is an ongoing problem, it won't be fixed if you don't confront it. These reactions aren't reflective of reality -- like, people who unsubscribe don't actually hate you -- but they're also very normal feelings for creators to have, and nothing to be ashamed of. A lot of us have those feelings.

And frankly? I don't think you can make those feelings not happen. You have to learn how to have those feelings, and not beat yourself up for having those feelings, but recognise that they don't reflect reality.

When people would unsub, or a page would get fewer comments than normal, I would absolutely have all of the "why did they leave? what did I do wrong? Which tiny thing did they take offense to? Are they just a jerk? Am I not as good as I used to be? IS MY COMIC GOING DOWNHILL AND IT WILL NEVER RECOVER????" thoughts go through my head. You're always going to have those thoughts, but you have to learn to interrupt them. Remind yourself -- you can't read people's minds. You don't actually know why they unsubbed, but it could be for lots of reasons even if your comic/novel is really good. You still have 70-some-odd other folks who are on board!!! Sometimes a page or a chapter just doesn't get comments because there's not as much to comment on or people are waiting for the next part, not because it's worse. Some stats are gonna naturally go up and down and that's not reflective of you and what you have to offer.

You have to learn, eventually, how to have those thoughts and those feelings, but not let them take you over. You clearly see that it's something that doesn't help you -- so when you catch yourself stalking someone else's page to see why they stopped commenting, you gotta try to stop yourself, remind yourself that it's okay for someone to not comment -- (out of energy? haven't had time to read lately? having a bad month and hopefully will be back later? enjoyed it silently and forgot to leave comments? thinks they left too many comments and doesn't want to come on too strong or be weird? there's a gazillion reasons someone might stop commenting, remind yourself of these things!!) -- and let it go. And that takes practice! There's probably gonna be a few times where you go "haha well I know I shouldn't but I just can't help myself" -- but it takes time, keep working at it!!

You can get better at letting this stuff go, but you can only get better with practice.

If I were worried about viewer engagement I wouldn't be on this site at all. My stats are rather pathetic when compared to literally every other creator on here. So take it from me, what you're feeling now is normal, It's something every creator feels. When you're on the small side of the spectrum, it's just something you need to come to terms with. But yes, take a short break. Not too long, that can deal damage to your stats. Another option is to update with no interaction, I know that this is tough but it actually helps a lot. I've learned to not worry about stats at this point.

Definitely sounds like you need a break. i think that at some point is totally normal and valid to feel sad because your views drop and people unsub because you are investing precious hours of work here. But if this hype for the views is making you anxious and sad sounds like you need time out. If you only avoid the problem you will still be unhappy. Is better to stop than stay and then resent your readers later.

in my personal, honest opinion you seem to need to work a little bit with your self worth. So that you don't feel so incredibly anxious about external validation. Increase what makes you important and valuable independently of the result you publications have.

I think i can feel you on a spiritual level for this. Don't be ashamed for what you wrote, because i can assure you that there are many people with your same issue, sometimes i fall in it as well.
The problem here is that....likes, comments,subs and other form of appreciation from other are an addictive drug when you start receiving it. There's nothing wrong with this, actually it's a good thing that people like or are hyped over your work, but sometimes this thing can overwhelm you if you can't control it.
I reached a point in the past where i even asked if i really liked drawing because i was getting demotivated in seeing my stats dropping, the answer was "yes" but i was kind of intoxicated from too much social media activity for being enough lucid about it. Sometimes i have to take a break from socials or posting too much because otherwise i start stressing over ratings dropping, subs going away, feeling ignored (...) then i come back clean and ready to draw again, but mostly for myself ALL OF THIS to tell you that as everyone else above here said (i'm just making the echo) you should just take a break from social media. Maybe two weeks/one month can help you a lot in re-focusing on yourself, your art and what you like the most, so yeah take a small hiatius if you're feeling bad.
Also, i'm paranoid by nature and it happened for me to think the same things you said above, but i'm a bit nuts and i have to take mood-stabilizer medicines otherwise i could have way more obsessive and dark thoughts xD i'm saying this to tell you that you'll be fine whatever you're going to do, life is a cycle so you will alwaya find the way back to yourself ^^

I think it's important to know that we all feel this way from time-to-time. I think it's really hard sometimes when you look at your stats and then look at someone else's stats and wonder what they're doing that you're not that made them blow up--especially when you're working just as hard to make it happen. I don't think you need to quit forever, but maybe just a little break would be really helpful. I find that when I start doing things like this the best thing to do is to replace the time you spend on Tapas with doing something else that you love. I like playing videogames, spending time with my family, and walking my dog, for instance. And sometimes instead of uploading I'll go read someone else's story who doesn't have that many subs and for some reason that makes me feel better, too. <3 Oh yes, and one thing I never want writing for me to be is a stressor. Sometimes just writing out chapters and not uploading them and just keeping them to yourself for awhile is a stress-reliever in itself.

I think, lastly, it's also really important to remember that likes and subs are not indicative of how good your work is. I always like to remind myself that the greatest novel ever was probably never published and that Twilight and Fifty Shades of Gray WERE published. XD

Sometimes I have the same issue. Well, I don't actually cry, but I become sad when people unsubscribe or I don't see a new subscribers or any comments or likes for several days. It really can ruin the mood.
I'm starting to concern a lot, like: "am I drawing too badly?", "am I drawing too slowly?", "did I go too far with a technical details and description?", "did I go too far with a dirty jokes?", "is my comics too incomprehensible?", "did I make too many photoshop effects?", "are people laughting on my mistakes in english?", "can people ever sympathize the main characters who are definitely not a heroes and even should be the villains in the more traditional setting?"
When I'm catching myself on this kind of endless worries, I'm telling myself: "Ok. Stop it. It meaningless. You are adult person and you are already know that you are not 100$ banknote to be likeable of everyone."
But sometimes these attempts to be reasonable doesn't work... In this case I just switch onto my usual duties: developing my thesis, working on temporary job, making housework. Or I continue drawing but pretend that I will never show it to anyone to concentrate on the process, not on the impression which its result will give.

I don't know if something from it will work for you, but I hope that you will find the way to be fine. At the end, creation gives a lot of fun, once you can defeat your worries!

P.S. Also I appreciate the advice about mood-stabilizer medicines. But of course they should be appointed by the doctor, in other case it is too risky.

It's okay to take a break. Everyone needs a break, especially if you're having a hard time focusing