5 Tips for Bouncing Back from Creative Burn Out

Jun 15

Written By Stacey

It will inevitably happen...

You’ll be coasting right along with all of your projects and then, all of a sudden, a wave of activity will come your way that leaves you breathless in its wake…and not in a good way either.

It happened to me the last month or so of school. I’ve shared before that I was notified that a nurse would be provided to go to school with my daughter. It sent everything into a tailspin to coordinate all of that. Between being in two different school districts with two separate asynchronous days, spotty childcare, and her health emergencies, every day was a different ball of wax. Then, the last week, the nurse’s car had to be put in the shop! I became an uber for a day and had to finish out my school year immediately.

It has been a roller coaster ride, to say the least.

But, I still stand by my belief that every problem has a creative solution. Even burn out. These are my tips for overcoming it.

Don’t beat yourself up over it.
There’s nothing wrong with you. Punishing yourself for a perfectly natural response to life’s never-ending demands won’t help you. In fact, it will leave you mentally drained longer than what’s necessary for you to bounce back. Creative burn out is just your system’s way of telling you it needs a break. Nothing more, nothing less.
Rest.
There’s no need to fight yourself. Listen to your body and your mind when it tells you enough is enough. Even practicing something creative every day doesn’t have to mean you’re constantly doing something physically. Sometimes, it can be relaxing and reading a book on your favorite topic…Or, it could be just dreaming up the things you want to do when your energy returns (although maybe take some notes…the best ideas come from a place of rest. Ijs.). I’ve been sleeping in an extra hour myself.
Cheer on your creative friends.
If you’re part of a creative community, cheer on the friends that are active in that community. It’s putting positive energy out into the universe that’s bound to come back to you. Besides, seeing the talent of others on display is inspiring! Eat it up! Currently, a few folks I know on the ‘Gram are rocking out! Jennie Guiney is hosting @20minutesofcray, Alanna Flowers is all over Adobe, Kevin Adams is jumping in front of his work out in the wild and the list just goes on. Sit back, pop some popcorn and enjoy the sights!
Try playing with a different tool.
If you’re up to it, try playing with a different tool to create than you are used to…key word here is ‘playing’. Many times, your expectations for a medium you’re unfamiliar with will not be at the same level as a medium you typically use. That can be very freeing during times of burn out because you can relax and just explore. That alone can give you some much needed mind space. If you are particularly anxiety-ridden about making mistakes, I suggest playing with a material you know you’re going to bomb. That way you’ve gotten all the reservations out of the way and you can fail at it with flying colors…which means, you kinda win! Bonus, all play is learning. So, what you learn can be applied to your usual medium when your mojo returns. This past week, I played with my website (have you noticed?) and on my iPad with some new brushes for a few days-all while Netflixing! And, I finally figured out that by adjusting the Pressure Curve in the Procreate app, I could fatten my downstrokes without having to dig the Apple Pencil into my iPad anymore!
Wait until you’re ready…then, ease back in-quick!
There’s a time and season for everything under the sun, including work and rest. But once you sense that the time’s up on your season of rest, and you’ve regained some strength, get back to it! There’s a saying that goes, “What you don’t use, you will eventually lose.” Don’t lose that creative spark by letting too many days stretch into too many weeks or months of inactivity. Find a project or manageable challenge you can be part of and ease back into the groove of creating again. You don’t have to run a creative marathon unless you’re ready for that. Just find a pace you can handle until you’re running at your normal speed again. I may just join Jennie on her challenge…with my pencil, of course.