Recovering from Creative Depletion

It's taken me a while, but I wanted to continue a conversation I started in May about "Recovering from Stress Overload and Creative Depletion." If you weren't here for part one, you can read about my journey with stress here. As expected, it struck a chord with so many women, and I was grateful but sad to hear that many of us have been struggling with ridiculous levels of stress in our lives.

Additionally, this year has been about creative recovery for me. If you're also feeling a bit uninspired, uncreative, or tapped out, I hope you find some new ideas to spark your creative juices.

Before we jump in, here's a small reminder if you're already thinking, "This doesn't apply to me because I'm not creative." In the words of Ted Lasso, "that's stinkin' thinkin'." I absolutely believe each one of us is creative, but it looks different for all of us. For some of us, our creativity is more obvious and visual. For others, your creativity comes out in a dozen different, behind-the-scenes ways. Whether you can draw a stick figure or not, you ARE creative. As Eric Gill says, "Every man is called to give love to the work of his hands. Every man is called to be an artist."

If you're still not convinced, a well-known Co-active Coaching Principle reminds us, "You are naturally creative, resourceful, and whole." Thanks, Caryn, for first introducing me to this principle and, Karen, for reminding me where it comes from!

 
 

Many of us have been feeling uncreative, uninspired, or maybe we're all just crying "UNCLE!" after the past couple of years. Life has taken a lot of creativity just to adapt and function. Maybe that's why it feels like there's no time, interest, or creative will left for the extra things that brought us joy. When our creative energy is being used up every day to stay afloat through all the changes and upheaval of the day-to-day, maybe that just doesn't leave any energy for the fun stuff we used to love?

Additionally, sometimes the creative activities we enjoy don't fill us up when the environment isn't what we're used to. For example, if you're used to taking a group class (could be anything from Zumba to painting to wine tasting and everything in between), it's not just what we do that sparks our joy and satisfaction. It's also the sights and smells of the space, the energy and expression of the people participating with us. So even if we do the same type of activity at home, as was often necessary over the past two years, it's not the same when we do it by ourselves and it doesn't yield the same results. In fact, feeling the loneliness, isolation, or lack of motivation may have turned what used to be a positive experience into a negative or neutral one.

So by the end of 2021 when I was already feeling completely stressed out, I was also creatively depleted. Even activities I previously enjoyed like knitting were feeling like a chore, another task to check off the unending list. Bleh.

After pouring creative energy into my work so my clients were still taken care of, there wasn't anything left for me. And as creativity got hard, I was feeling the drain of it all. My creative well was so parched, I thought no amount of rain would refill it. Mercifully I was wrong.

I was wrong that I couldn't be excited about creative ventures outside of work again.

I was wrong that it was wasteful to spend time and money being creative with no financial ROI.

I was wrong that taking time to play was frivolous.

Like everything, it's been a process of encouraging myself to play and choosing to believe that taking a break from work actually improves my work—not to mention the additional benefits to my relationships and my own mental health. I don't have it all figured out (that's not the point anyway), but here's what creative recovery is looking like for me, in hopes it may spark your own recovery:

1 | Know Thyself

Personally, I can't recharge by dumping more information into my life. I have to make time to just be—by myself, in environments that inspire me, with people who encourage me. To NOURISH—my word for 2022—my mind, body, and spirit. Walking in nature, being alone with my thoughts, having space to dream, listening to my own intuition, and being inspired by other people and their stories have been important to me this year.

Know what is nourishing for you and take one step to do more of that. If you're not sure what that even looks like or you have an idea but it scares you a little, that's ok. Try one thing and see where it leads.

Here's a few other things that have been fun this year. I'm trying to use my laptop more so I'm not always sitting at my desk. (Laptop in the hammock has been especially fun this summer!) I rearranged my office to give me some creative space. I'm also trying to take a day or two each quarter to be inspired, rest, journal, dream. I still struggle with this because it's hard to give myself this break, but it's always worth it!

2 | The Artist’s Way

In January 2022, I started reading and working through The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron (at the suggestion of my friend and copy coach Jacq Fisch) which has both grounded me and forced me out of my comfort zone in the very best way.

The Artist's Way is primarily built on two practices:

  1. Morning pages, three pages of brain dump every morning to "clear the cobwebs" before the day starts. I've done these regularly until I took an intentional break over the summer; I'm getting back into the habit this month.

  2. Artist's dates, weekly creative dates by yourself just to play and experiment.

I find it easier to be consistent with pages than the dates. I like quiet mornings and regular routine, but—much like the struggle to take a day or two off—making time each week to do something new and fun doesn't come easily to me. As with most things, it's a work in progress.

3 | Creative Content

Instead of reading and listening to so much business advice and news, I started looking, listening, and reading for the sake of creativity. I actually scroll Instagram intentionally (not mindlessly) just for fun and inspiration. It's a beautiful thing when the algorithm starts feeding your curiosity in a positive way!

Here are some of the book I've enjoyed:


And some of the beautiful IG accounts and hashtags I love:

The options are endless. Again, find what inspires you and watch/read/listen to more of that! What are your favorites? I'd love to hear them!

4 | Try Something New

Once our stores and venues started reopening, I enrolled in a pottery wheel class (which I found while scrolling IG) just for the heck of it. It was so much fun that I immediately enrolled in a second session.

It was something I'd never done before, and it's been so fun being a messy beginner. I showed up with nothing—no idea of what I wanted to make, no pictures, no plans, no preconceived notions, no YouTube prep videos. (This is not how I would normally show up to a new class!) Just me in junky work clothes—thanks to our decades of home renovations—and my jewelry safely tucked in my back pocket. Thank you, Lori at @prairiewillowpottery. It was so freeing to try something new with no expectations, no need to be proficient, to be a willing student with a masterful, patient teacher.

What's something you've always wanted to try? Could you sign up for a one-time session or weekly series? Do you have a friend with a skill you admire who'd be willing to teach you? It may cost you something to enroll, but don't be fooled into thinking you have to sink a ton of money into supplies or top-of-the-line "whatever" just to experiment. Maybe someday I'll buy a pottery wheel, but for now it's not in the cards and, honestly, that feels like too much pressure. The goal was just to try it and have fun, which I did!

I hope that as we're moving from summer into autumn you've already had some downtime these past few months to feel more inspired and creative. I know the slower pace can be helpful. How can we take these lessons forward through the rest of the year and beyond? That's the secret—don't let it be a summertime thing. Creativity is for all year round!

business resources, behind the scenesMichelle Clayton