Creative Burnout? Here’s Why, and 14 Things You Could Do

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Number one, just take a nap.

If I’m being honest, I haven’t fully recovered from two days before where I felt like I was wasting air and space doing nothing. This was what really happened…

I had a bunch of loads of work hanging from my laptop, way before COVID-19. I always thought I could outsmart my deadlines. I actually didn’t have any deadlines — per se, but I knew deep down inside me, I ought to get work done.

So I’ve been a freelancer/self-employed/lone-creative since the beginning of 2020. There’s not much accountability to pull through my work schedule, I just sort of — work however I want to, at my own time.

Truth is, that sucks!

So I joined a support group in February where I began to reason life differently and drew closer to finding purpose. So here, how did I get entangled with creative burnout?

If you’re reading this, your first guess about me would be, “Oh she’s a writer!” Aha! Yeap, that’s right! A proud one at that, but that’s not the point.

The point here is, as a writer — I get blocks. Hot blocks. I get stuck with words, sentences, and the story line. That’s because, there are certain moods at various intervals.

Sometimes, I’m sad, I’m irresolute, I’m predictable, and you go like, “Oh, Julia’s procrastinating this time — yet again.”

Yippidy yap-yap da-da blah-blah, why do you experience creative burnout?

Beeeecaaaauussseee… You are a creative! And also because when you create or build something, you want it to seem perfect, and when it doesn’t come out as you’ve envisioned, it gets you super stressed out, and when you’re stressed out, you can’t put 1 and 1 together, and so you become extremely fatigued.

And when you’re fatigued, you experience a creative burnout. Does that make sense?

Other times, you’re just so used to being complacent with the usual activities of your life. There’s no recurring drive to do anything. You’re not challenged, you stop asking questions, you kill the curious cat because you couldn’t get to the bag. You need to take a chill-pill — slow down, and ask yourself, what is the one thing you’re doing wrong? Once you can answer that, please, by all means, make a list of things that are working real good for you.

If you do make that list, focus all your mind and energy on that list…

I’ve totaled up 14 ways to subjugate creative burnout. First things first;

1. You need to sleep. Because you just need to rest. It’s not right for any one to push you beyond your mark, if you yawn while working, it’s because you’re tired. Go to bed… rest, then come back and finish up. Or if you feel like you must go on to do that work, then simply TAKE A BREAK!
2. Eat some nice meal! No- no, do not, I repeat, binge eat. Don’t do it… Just take the time, to make something nice. If you don’t know how to cook — err, there’s a restaurant nearby, you can order take-out I suppose. Eat at home, and sip on some red wine. *Cheers*
3. Exercise. I know, you’re lazy, I’m lazy. Those guys over there are doing much worse than you, but it’s not about them. It’s about you darling. Working out is not a competition, but a routine to in-vibe into your daily lifestyle. You get it? (Or just walk around your room then, that should do it).
4. Chit-Chat. You have your permission to gossip about your peers. Don’t worry, they’re doing the same thing. Or talk about the second coming of Jesus Christ. Just get taaaaallllkiiiiiing!
5. Get Distracted. Heh, I’m telling you. It’s probably the only option in this article that you might approve of. Watch a movie, or two movies, or even see Game of Thrones 1–8 again for better understanding. My 2cents tho. Wait hang on, is it Money Heist now?
6. Re-organize — Reorganize — Re-organize.
7. Keep A Journal. “So day 18, I started writing on Medium again since February, since the heart break, since I practiced the subtle art of not giving a F*ck!” This is how my day 18 page in my journal looks like. No they don’t look like that, heck I don’t have that time.
8. Listen to Some Music. Music heals your soul. It connects you to the law of the universe. It provides you with insights and never asks for anything in return. Jazz music does set an atmosphere for inspiration.
9. Set small deadlines. Because you can’t have all that power-productivity in one day. Learn to finish one task. At. A. Time.
10. Must Do List. In fact, before you run into your morning, have 5–10 things you must accomplish most days. Number one, brush my teeth. Number two, wash my face. Number three, have light breakfast… like that. (Don’t follow my footsteps o). Notice how I didn’t state ‘To-Do List’?
11. Learn a new skill. There’s a good deal of new skills online that might catch your fancy. Especially in the area of digital marketing… aaand that is another topic for later.
12. Read a Novel. Dump all your motivational books for now, download WattPad, read romance novels. It’s like passing time on Instagram, while watching Telemundo — I think? (Refer back to number 5, it’s allowed).
13. Write a note to your future self. Dear Julia, you’ll be f*cking successful and you’re gonna travel the world.
14. Challenge yourself to a 15/30/60/90 Days something-something.

Ta-dah! Still having creative burnouts? Well, I guess you’re just a classic! *wink*