Take some time to breath

Let’s talk about creativity and burnout. You feel drained of your creativity, and nothing is left. You’re dreading starting work, feel tired and stressed out, and you suspect you’ll never be able to create something good again. That’s it right there. You just might be experiencing a creative burnout. Always one to give people the benefit of the doubt, I strongly believe this is one of the many untalked-about reasons behind the outright copy of creative content. That and the creative being lazy, of course. You need to do the work but are too exhausted to come up with anything, so why not lift an already tried and tested template and pass it off as yours? No one will notice if you put a few tiny tweaks to it. If they do, you could claim it was an inspiration. Whether they know it or not, almost every designer, writer, entrepreneur, photographer or creator has experienced burnout at least once. I personally think a combination of overworking yourself is the reason behind this. Let’s not forget self-induced pressure and sometimes feeling ‘stuck’.

Social media? That only worsens this feeling as every scroll satiates your imagination and reminds you of what you haven’t achieved. Even those algorithmically curated likes suddenly feel like intrusive reminders of your worth.

As a culture, I don’t think we give ourselves the freedom to step back. The narrative is always that we should keep pushing. This shouldn’t be the case. Please take this as your weekly reminder to constantly step back and breathe. Your brain is not a fruit you can press until you extract the last drop of creative juice. Your mind needs rest. It needs care and support. Think of your creativity as a well. It will eventually dry up if you keep drawing from it without letting it refill.