Image by Michelle Urra from WePresent: By artists, with artists
Let’s talk about creative burnout. The kind that feels like staring at a screen while your brain quietly backs out of the room.
Creative work isn’t just about making things. It’s about making sense of things. That takes mental and emotional energy. And when that well runs dry, the results are predictable: procrastination disguised as perfectionism, irritation at your own ideas, and the growing suspicion that maybe you’re just not good at this anymore.
But burnout isn’t a failure of skill. It’s a signal. It’s your brain waving a little flag that says, “Hey, we need something different.” That might mean rest, but it might also mean reinvigoration through a different type of task, a change of setting, or a creative distraction.
I’ve learned that burnout doesn’t always require a full stop. Sometimes it just needs a reframe. A walk. A sketch. A notebook with no rules. A conversation with someone outside your bubble.
🌿 Burnout says something’s off. Listening to it is part of the creative process, not an interruption of it.