What do you do when your creative well dries up?

Reflections on reconnecting with your creative flow

What do you do when your creative well dries up?

When you’re reaching for more product ideas, strategic inspiration, or other essential creative mojo and keep coming up short?

I just got out the other side of a three-week dose of writer's block and here are a few reflections on what helped me through my creative dry spell.

First, a quick snapshot of the thoughts that accompanied those three weeks:

- The muses have left you, you’ll never write that easily again.

- You’re letting down people who have given you their money and attention.

- Frankly, you’re supposed to be better than this. What’s wrong with you?

Yes, despite all the work I’ve done, my catastrophizing and castigating inner critics of myself are still lurking in here and pop up when sh*t hits the fan. 

BUT. I didn’t fight with them or give them energy. Instead, I said “oh hi, you're back, it's been a while” and left mental space for other thoughts to bubble up too. 

Thoughts like:

- This is a rite of passage and now you’re officially a writer! Woohoo!

- You’ll grow so much as you find your way out of this.

- There’s nothing to be gained by being so hard on yourself. Go gentle.

Here’s what helped in practice:

1) Saying it out loud. 

The second I stopped letting this “failure” be a story in my head and shared it with a dear friend some of the fog immediately lifted. Her reply was also so valuable: “I know you create best when you give yourself space, not when you force it.” Oh yes, I recognize myself in that.

2) Taking care of me. 

During the last two months, I took a toddler on a multi-stop trip to Europe, moved apartments, created and mostly executed on the interior design of the new place - and went to Burning Man.

Looking back, my heart has been full. After all, these are all forms of creativity and connection that I adore. AND that masked being physically burnt out and creatively spent. Unsurprisingly rest, sleep, and calm have helped.

3) Sourcing from where I am now, not what used to work.

Typically my best writing ideas emerge from sessions with my clients and I was starting to make myself “wrong” as that wasn't working. What worked instead was reacquainting myself with myself, with my own purpose and my power.

Reading the list I keep of all the best things that have happened in my business.

Revisiting my vision of where I’m heading over the next three years.

Kicking off my quarterly planning process and getting excited about what I’m building next.

I’m sourcing from where I am now, not where I was last time I was in flow. The gift of being blocked in one way is expansion in another path.

Anyway, I’m sure those three weeks didn’t feel long to my readers, but my goodness they felt long to me and I’m happy to be back.

More next week on my quarterly planning process as a few people have asked how I go about that and I’m kicking off some exciting new projects I can’t wait to share with you all.