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“Exhaustion, busyness, and burnout are not prerequisites for creative success.” —Amie McNee, author of We Need Your Art
Art, in whatever medium you create it, if you are vulnerable in your work – sharing bits and pieces or ginormous portraits of your life and emotions, you are an artist. In other words, you are giving of yourself, mining your life in some way to bring forth something to share with the world. You are honoring the calling from your inner voice that relentlessly, yet often quietly so if we distract ourselves we can ignore it, but it never goes away, urges us to share in a way only uniquely can.
Your art might be your profession – the whole kit and caboodle. It might be a part-time income, or it may be a hobby that you have yet to share with anyone, but you are an artist if give from a place of being vulnerable. And if you have ever reached a point of exhaustion, or the feeling that you cannot keep doing what you love doing for any number of reasons – not enough time, not enough energy, loss of confidence, loss of support, any feeling of lacking, I am so glad you stopped by the blog today, because this is the post for you.
Fellow creative Amie McNee has written a book full of encouragement and validation for continuing to create your art with We Need Your Art. Released this past March, much of what I will be sharing today comes from her chapter “On Burnout”, and as I found myself feeling relieved and reassured while reading aspects of this particular chapter, I knew that had I not read it, I may have gone down a rabbit hole of worry or doubt, which is never helpful when it comes to art, let alone life for that matter, and always unnecessary, but when we are exhausted such truths are ignored.
If we let the cacophony of the world’s opinion about how artists must struggle become what we believe, we will erroneously accept a detrimental mistruth that can only hurt the creation of art that only we can uniquely give. To be fair, we aren’t creating something the world hasn’t seen or heard before, but in a style that is uniquely our own, from an experience that can only come from us. And if we let ourselves fall prey to burnout, or repeatedly fall into the cycle of burnout with each project again and again, we are getting in our own way, and I don’t want you do that ever again because it absolutely can be prevented. Let’s talk about exactly how to first recover and then prevent burnout.
How to Recover from Burnout, Busyness, Exhaustion
Rest
Likely, this will feel antithetical to what will resolve the stress you are feeling. After all, you likely feel overwhelmed and uncertain that the projects you have started will be finished on time. But I can guarantee that if you burnout, they never will. We recover from burnout, exhaustion or the bad habit of constantly needing to be busy by taking a restorative, as long as necessary, rest.
McNee goes so far as to say that we must take as much rest as we need in order to reach the point where we miss the work we aren’t doing. Don’t misunderstand, this is not the same thing as not feel guilty about doing the work we need to do, but miss taking part in creating it. We want to get back to a place of enjoyment in creating the art that is uniquely ours to make. That is how we will reestablish, and with the help of my second list below, maintain a constant replenishing source of energy for doing our art.
episode #139, An Everyday Necessity: Deliberate Rest
Create art just for you – just play
Sometimes we will be fortunate to take our rest by going on a vacation away from our home office. This is helpful because we don’t have our work staring us in the face, nor the prompts and reminders of our regular schedule. If you do have the opportunity, step into a class or if not on vacation, sit down and just pick up a piece of paper and your art tools (whatever they may be), and do what you love for fun. Bring your beginners’ mind with you, as we say in Buddhism, and just be open to creating what comes to mind without any hope or particular outcome in mind. Taking the class will help you to learn without putting your ‘expert’ hat on and just be the student – playing, trying, experimenting.
By setting aside ‘have-to’s, stress is reduced, blood pressure decreases, and you are able to see more clearly as to how you permitted yourself to reach the point of burnout – IF you are willing to be honest with yourself.
Prioritize the art you are creating – it is not second to the noncreative life you live
I know when I was still teaching while also writing the blog, finding the courage to tell my friends or family that I needed to write and thus couldn’t do whatever they were asking me to do, was less than easy. But if I am being truthful, what made it difficult wasn’t because they didn’t take my need for writing seriously, it was because I didn’t take it as seriously outward in expressing my needs as it needed to be to protect it.
This has completely changed over time, but upon reflection, it took time to prioritize what I needed to create the writing for the blog, books and podcast that I would be proud of.
We all will have noncreative responsibilities and even hobbies, but if you are creating art and find nourishment in doing so, in order to keep the momentum, you have to protect the time you need to create it.
If we pile both our noncreative and creative lives into our schedule, this can become exhausting. In time, we will, if we haven’t done so already, have to begin letting some things go if our art is a true priority. You will know what those things are and when to let go of them as you journey forward. But if you have reached the place of burnout, taken the time to recover, then put into practice the steps shared below to prevent it from happening again, and then assessed – how is it going? If you have avoided returning to burnout, then there is no need to edit, but if you have arrived at burn-out again, it’s time to be honest with yourself: Something needs to change, and make sure it is not your art that suffers.
Stop creating for validation
From how many ‘likes’, to how many shares, sales and comments, the list can go on regarding ways validation is given from the outside world. If we solely live for validation from others, we will eventually burnout.
First of all, we must come to the place of creating our art from an internal motivation. We cannot choose to be artistic in anyway if it is not coming from something within us. Just as our internal well of inspiration is infinite, conversely, endless external validation is not. Once we understand that while yes, a positive reception, interest and true fans are necessary at some point along the way, if that is what we are creating our art for, we need to reconsider what we are doing because we will only return to burnout again and again and again.
Now that we have addressed and begun to recover from burnout, let’s make sure we never return to that state again. Because good news! It is possible to avoid burnout and have constant and consistent enjoyment and energy engaged in making the art we love.
How to Prevent (Burn-Out, Busyness, Exhaustion)
Design your own approach and honor it
“You will have to find your own routine. You do this by simply paying attention to what feels good, what works, what absolutely doesn’t work as you create. And after you’ve noticed (this is the crucial part), respect the findings!”
As an artist, you will need to honor a work schedule, routines, and project creation that aligns with your energy as it ebbs and flows. The traditional teaching schedule I kept for twenty years is not conducive to creating well consistently without falling into burnout. My creativity is overflowing when I wake up, but come noon, nope. It’s done. I have to design my days to honor how my creative arrives, when my mind is free from whatever could distract it, and I know I can keep it distraction-free for the longest amount of time during the first part of my day. This is my approach. Your approach will be unique to you, and through consciously paying attention to your energy, you will figure out what to do.
It is when we force our creative creation into a traditional schedule that others (i.e. society) follow that we eventually arrive at burnout. “Our routines, our pace, they are bespoke” as McNee reminds, and while it may take time to figure out what exactly yours is, this is a wonderful practice in self-awareness because you have to pay full attention to what and where and how you are feeling in any different situation, time of day, and what may have affected it – poor sleep, certain food or drink, company, weather, etc. Have fun figuring out your bespoke routine and then honor it. “Your pace is holy.”
Establish and stick to boundaries that protect your art creation
The topic of Boundaries is a regular one here on TSLL, so I will refer you to episode #343 to break down the importance as well as many benefits and how to create them. But very quickly, going off of what was shared above in how to recover by prioritizing our art creation, once we know our routine, that becomes our guidepost for where our boundaries need to be placed.
Stop trying to make your life look ‘normal’ to others
And also, stop fighting against people in your explaining why you need to live the routines and schedules that you do. Just do them! “Fighting is going to exhaust you . . . fighting your natural instinct to create leads to burnout. Embrace it, exhale, you are doing so well.” Anytime we fight against something, we take away energy we need to work with something.
One of the important parts of embracing the routine that works for you is that you are not doing it for attention, applause, to look ‘weird’ or any other external response. You are doing it because you need to do it. Your routine is your boundary of sorts because if you don’t follow this routine, you won’t be able to create the art that is wanting to be shared.
And what is ‘normal’ anyway? All it has to do is with mass numbers of people doing the same thing, but really, what is normal is honoring your true self and giving to the world in a way that both benefit the world and yourself constructively.
Resting regularly and well is mandatory
No matter how much we love to create, no matter how fulfilling it is, we are still expending energy. Even when we are energized and regularly find a flow in our work, we will become tired. We recoup that energy by resting well. Art is tiring because we are giving of our true and full selves. We are being vulnerable. That is not a passive thing. It involves emotion, full attention and giving of something we need to share. Knowing how to do that in a way that is sincere but also conveys what we are trying to say is draining. Draining in the most wonderful of ways because we are left fulfilled and with a sense of honoring a purpose, a calling, but drained nonetheless.
We must take care of our physical and emotional health, and not trivialize that art is ‘easy’ because we love to create it. It may come easily, but it takes energy, and we have to restore that energy regularly.
Pay attention to your body and what it needs. It will communicate with you. It is our job to listen and heed it. If you need to sleep in, and you never sleep in because you have come to believe that is a sign of laziness, put your ego aside, and sleep in, gosh darnit! Your body knows what it needs. Which leads me to . . .
Keep your ego in check
We may have a vision of what an artist does, how they live, how they look or behave, but all of that is a need to feel validated for doing what we have the good fortune to do. Creating art is filled with unknowns, but when we think about it, all of life, no matter what your profession, is full of unknowns. We as a society have just chosen to label some jobs as steady and others as not. When you’ve found your dharma and are honoring it, there is valid reason to trust it, and thus trust yourself. Only when we have stepped into something because of the outside world’s urging, should we be nervous. Why? Because only our true self knows what aligns with our passion, our strengths and what fuels us naturally.
So back to keeping the ego in check. If we are so concerned about our outer perception, then our insecurities are on full display. We then are paying too much attention to perception than to the reality of art making. When we give our art – our approach to creating – what it needs, the outer appearance will be what it will be as a result of the schedule we have to keep, the clothes we need to wear to feel comfortable and relaxed so that we can create well, and the behaviors that are true to who we are and how we love to live whether anyone sees us doing them or not.
For example, I love to garden. Gardening for me, especially on Saturday which is my only non-tech day of the week, is creative nourishment. Nowhere in my actions does it appear that I am nourishing my mind for the writing I will step back into on Sunday with the week’s beginning, but it is. It is clearing things out, keeping me present and giving my mind a rest. I plop on my now haphazardly shaped seagrass gardening hat that I picked up Provence to shield my face from the sun. It doesn’t fit my head anymore because I tried to clean with water it and caused it to shrink. I slather sunscreen on, step into my short wellies and with my shorts on in the summer, I am suited perfectly for gardening while protecting my skin. I talk to neighbors as they pass, and not once am I thinking about how I look. I am gardening. I need to garden. I love to garden. I am grateful I have this outlet, and it works every time. Ready to go I am when Sunday morning rolls around and I sit down to write the Monday Motivational post. If people associate writers with being goofy, passionate gardeners, then great; if they don’t, that is great as well.
Stop caring about what the ‘gatekeepers’ think and create your art
I was asked the question recently in an interview, “What do you never want to do?” The reference being to how I approach my writing and business, and I had to pause for a moment because I don’t think about what not to do, rather, I think about how to stay true to what I can uniquely do.
When we give our attention, thus our time, to worrying about others and whether or not they will accept or like our work, we give away our power. Power that originates within each of us. And if we then take that same attention and energy and rail on about how the system is rigged, or unfair or [enter the rant that may come to mind], then we take away energy that the art we can unique make needs us to give it instead. Because that energy is finite. We can refuel that energy, but then why would we want to expend it again and again on something that is out of our control? It doesn’t make sense. Worrying about what not to do works much the same way. It drains our energy.
What we need to do is be honest about why we are frustrated. We have simply, by railing against the ‘gatekeepers’, found an outlet to place our pain which pulls us away from our art. Once you have a schedule and approach that honors what you need, simply stick with it, stay consistent, and in time, your time will come. Patience is a powerfully helpful skill to hone. We’ll talk more about that later on down on this list.
Set a maximum output each day
“The bare maximum is a brilliant tool for artists who are obsessed with productivity and are therefore prone to overreach and burnout.”
Nope that is not a typo. Set a maximum output each day and do not exceed it. If you are the artist who never feels what they do is enough, cannot find contentment in a day’s work, then this approach will be difficult for you. You, of all people, must honor it. First, you are lacking in trust that what you do each day, little by little, will add up. That it does make a difference and that eventually you will finish your project. You will, just keep doing a little bit every day.
As McNee points out, exceeding the bare maximums may yield amazing results one day, but the consequences to consistency of quality output are detrimental. We as artists must honor our the approach that works, and do so each day. Our goal is not to constantly produce something, but instead, sustain our ability to create something, and that isn’t possible if we repeatedly burnout again and again.
Set bare minimums as well
The only way to be an artist is to create. Creating however can take shape in many different forms. We don’t have to physically be writing or painting or dancing or designing to be creating. We have to feed our mind as well, so it may be going to an event or traveling or [enter here an activity that the outside world may assume is you taking a break when really you are gathering intel]. However, set an intention each day to work on one thing you will complete (a certain about of words written, pages edited, progress made), so by the end of the day, you have kept the momentum going.
Let go of guilt
Guilt will always drain us of energy. Energy that is needed to create. When it comes to creating art and how guilt enters into it, as McNee points out time and time again, as creators the societal message is that we are lucky to be able to create art, and because we ‘get to do what we love’, it cannot be easy, it cannot be enjoyable and dear God, we cannot make money doing it either. If we feel or experience any of these things, we must feel guilty. These horrendously harmful beliefs must stop being accept as truth. Because they are mistruths.
Whatever the influence or belief structure that has imposed this common thinking into the culture comes from a place of either ignorance or a desire to control (other ominous places as well, but let us generalize for now). When you trust your reason to create the art that you have the opportunity to create, you are grounding yourself in a place of purpose and of delight. And it is now our responsibly to give what we can uniquely give. Don’t bleed energy feeling guilty about having this opportunity. The only thing to feel guilty about is if you don’t seize the opportunity to create!
Establish constructive habits
Similar but not entirely the same thing as a routine, habits free your mind while ensuring everything that needs to get done, gets done. Habits help wonderfully with our noncreative life. For example, every day of the week that has a “T” in it is a “Teeth day” for Nelle – I brush her teeth. It is important for her health, but I know myself and that I will regularly just float into my creative work in the morning and forget all about brushing her teeth, so this habit has been wonderfully helpful to prevent my forgetfulness.
When it comes to habits for creating, choose certain days of the week to do certain tasks. By not having think about what you will do each day of the week, you maintain your momentum, conserve energy and accomplish the progress on the work and/or projects you have set forth. For example, in my weekly routine, I designate all of Thursday to writing the This & That post. I have gathered the items up over the past weeks and months, but on that Thursday before it is published, I sit down and pull them all together, without fail. I don’t worry when I will find time to do it, I don’t backlog myself with other necessary work – nope, my habit is Thursday is T & T day.
Have patience, don’t rush
“Patience allows for peace. And peace allows for longevity, joy, improvement, connection, creative fulfillment.”
The idea of being an artist may or may not have been your dream as a young child, but likely the first artist we were introduced to by viewing their work is an individual who is well-known to the public. As any artist who loves what they do will likely tell you, the acclaim, the recognition, the applause doesn’t come for quite some time. That is why, whatever it is we choose to create must come authentically from within each of us because that is our infinite source of ideas and energy. There will be ebbs and flows in every artist’s career and journey, but what sustains us is the love and most importantly, the trust in ourself that what we are creating is an act of giving something helpful to the world while simultaneously nourishing us. When we create from this space, we find more peace within ourself, and what we give to the world is to help them in some way that will lead to them feeling more peace as well.
Having patience, exercising it, is an act of trust not only in yourself, but more specifically, trust in your process. The process that you have created thoughtfully as discussed in the point at the top of this list. Because when you trust your process, you know that you will be continually reenergized to create that which wants to be shared.
Whatever type of art you are creating whether to be put out into the world or for yourself, as Amie McNee’s book title states emphatically, you need to create it, and finding out how to do so with consistency is the key. How we remain consistent is ensuring that we are not leading ourself to the destination of burnout. The good news it is possible to avoid it with conscious awareness of the scripts we may have accepted about art and its creators in our culture as well as whether or not we have an abundance or scarcity mindset (something explored in-depth in this post).
Let me just say this to conclude, you can enjoy the journey, you don’t have to work all day every day, and what you create and how you create it doesn’t have to make sense to anyone but you. Go forth. Your art is important as McNee reminds and encourages. Because only you can share it in the unique way that you will.
Explore Amie McNee’s book – We Need Your Art – here.
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Thank you so much for writing this post, I really needed to read this. You addressed many of my feelings and struggles as an artist. I often feel that being an artist can be idealized or minimized and once labeled “creative” there is a tendency for your time to be seen as less valuable and struggles as optional.
Anyway, I really appreciated this and thank you.
Jenny,
Thank you for your comment. I think you would found a lot of inspiration and reassurance by reading Amie’s entire book. It is full of validation and awareness of exactly what you have shared and experienced and why we cannot let the art we create, that brings us to life that we share with the world – no matter how many people or how few, be seen as less of a priority. Sending you support from afar!