How I Stay Creative When I'm Running on Empty
Let me set a scene for you.
It's a Tuesday. My inbox has a few unread emails (this actually stresses me). I have a client deliverable due, a mood board that isn't feeling quite right, and a blinking cursor that seems to be mocking me. I know I need to create something good and I’m feeling the pressure.
If you run a creative business, you know this feeling. Burnout doesn't always look like a dramatic breakdown. Sometimes it just looks like a typical Tuesday. Over the years I've learned that creativity isn't a tap you can force on but it's also not something you just wait around for. You have to refill it. Here's how I actually do that:
Go on a little adventure. It doesn't have to be a flight somewhere (though never say never). Sometimes it's just a coffee shop I've never tried or a corner of Newport I somehow haven't explored yet. The point is to shake up the input. When I get out and let the world surprise me a little, something always shifts.
Actually read. Reading fiction forces my brain out of output mode. I'm absorbing someone else's story, someone else's rhythm. Even thirty minutes with a good book can reset something.
Play mahjong. Yes, really. There's something about a game that requires just enough focus to crowd out everything else. By the time I'm done, the problem I was stuck on has often quietly sorted itself out in the background and I’ve gotten to socialize in a low-pressure way.
Spend time with my dogs. They don't care about the deliverable unless that deliverable is a snuggle or tossing a ball in the yard. And they want it now. Spending time with Benny and Ronan forces me to actually step away — not just close the laptop but mentally leave the work behind. Unconditional love is genuinely good medicine.
Here's what I've come to believe after years of running a creative business: the pressure to always be "on" is one of the fastest ways to drain yourself dry. A full life is what makes the work good. So if you're staring at that blinking cursor right now… close the laptop. The ideas will be there when you get back. They always are.
Little Lion Creative is a full-service branding, web design, and content studio for small businesses and entrepreneurs. Based in Newport, RI. Let's work together.