To be an artist in dark times is a radical act. Maybe you’ve even found yourself in fight, flight, or freeze, wondering how is making art helping anything?
We live in a culture that profits on our exhaustion, commodifies our attention, worships productivity, and values us as consumers over citizens, a society that can’t understand or appreciate the calling or patience of the creative process.
To stay creative in these times is an act of resistance, one that requires compassion, courage, and loving diligence. In this workshop and conversation we will invite the elephant in the room to be named, we will embolden both our lives and our art with tools, strategies, and a clear-seeing awareness of the true stakes, and we will unpack our vital, critical, and changing role as the artistic visionaries of our time.
This is an invitation to a deeper possibility of peace, joy and wonder in your creative practice, integrating craft, mindset, and sustainability as your own personal site of resistance.Together we will re-imagine and reclaim our long-term creative lives while we strengthen each other in doing the radical work of staying.
Creative Burnout is real, my friend. And unlike regular burnout, we can’t just “push through” and suck it up. Creative work draws from a different well, and when that’s dry…well, no wonder you’re having a hard time writing.
If you’ve worked with me, you know I’m as passionate about supporting the creative process as I am the finished product: whether that’s the day-to-day of writing, the specifics of finishing a book, or the daily challenge of being a visionary person in a hustle world. And yes: I want to help writers become better at their craft…but I also know we can’t plant seeds in depleted soil.
How do you know if you might be creativity burned out? Here are some possible clues:
Possible Signs of (or Contributors to) Creative Burnout (no judgment but be honest!)
You’ve just finished a big creative project (a book, manuscript, etc.)
You find yourself down “research rabbit holes” during writing time
You’ve just finished a big life project (a move, remodeling, etc)
You’re having a hard time finding something to read that excites you
You’ve signed up for a workshop you didn’t finish or didn’t even start (my hand raised on this one!)
You’ve recently had a big life change (new baby, illness in the family, etc.)
Your old writing habits aren’t working anymore
You need more sugar/caffeine than usual to write
Everything you’re writing feels/sounds like everything else you’ve written–you feel stuck in a creative loop
You’ve had increased feelings of creative jealousy (everyone else is doing it better)
OR You’ve had an increased desire to isolate (I’m leaving social media, etc.)
You’ve stopped doing things you know are good for you (i.e. journaling, walking) and you can’t seem to get back in the rhythm.
You find yourself tired when it’s time to write
You’ve been feeling more defensive than usual about your work (not taking rejections/feedback well)
You can’t remember the last time you took yourself on an artist date
You forget to eat OR eat mindlessly throughout the day
You’ve had trouble sleeping–either falling asleep or waking up often
You are easily distracted from your creative work
You need external motivation or the writing doesn’t happen
You don’t have many other creative people in your (real) life who “get” you
All your writing has started to sound the same–no sparkle/new ideas.
You don’t have the time or mental space to go “deep”–you stay on the surface of your ideas
You don’t have a regular writing routine OR your regular writing routine is no longer working
You feel estranged from your work
Spoiler alert: The hustle is killing your creativity
(Now if this list does not speak to you–fantastic! Keep kicking butt, my friend!)
Five days of small but powerful action steps to overcome creative burnout PLUS a 90-minute live virtual retreat with me to end the week.
How it works:
Once you register, I’ll send you one email each day (beginning Monday, April 4th) examining each of the 5 areas of creative burnout: how it happens, how to avoid it, as well as small, actionable steps you can take today to move the needle even 10%.
Then we will gather for a 90-minute live virtual retreat on Friday, April 8 at 11 am MST. Bring your notebook and your beverage of choice and give yourself the gift of a mini-deep dive with other creatives.
This 5-Day Reversing Creative Burnout Challenge is FREE–including the mini virtual retreat–but you must register. Replays will be available for a limited time for those who sign up.
Nancy Stohlman 