This time of year, it’s so easy for entrepreneurs to feel burnout in their businesses. With summer in full swing these warm summer days can make us long for something different. Whether your kiddos are home and you’re in need of the school year routine or you’re simply longing for more restful days for that creativity to strike—this can be a season of overwhelm and burnout.

Maybe you’re gearing up for an upcoming launch or, if you’re product based, you’re already thinking about the Holidays.

There’s so much that’s asked of us as creatives, am I right? We’re asked to create, to go above and beyond for our clients, to bring big, bold, fresh ideas into the world—and all of that can be very overwhelming.

One thing I have wrestled with since I started my business back in 2012 is this: how can I remain passionate about something when I’ve asked my creativity to fund my paycheck?

Do you know what I mean?

In everything we’re doing—whether you’re a designer or a calligrapher, floral designer or photographer—at its core is a form of creativity.

Because of that, it’s easy for us to heavily tax our creativity on a daily basis in a way where we’re often feeling the well running dry.

So today, I want to share with you a simple way you can reframe your view of creativity and the sneaky truth that no one has told you that will change everything.

YOUR CREATIVITY BRINGS JOY

Now as we dive into this conversation, I need you to know that first and foremost—even if you’re in a season of burnout or feeling the summer heat going to your head—I want you to know that the work you do brings joy into the world.

Whatever you do—if it is coaching, creating, making a product or offering a service—the work you do literally brings someone joy.

And to me, by definition that is powerful and valuable work.

Now if you’re feeling burnt out I believe that means your creativity well is low. And in seasons of burnout there seems to be little-to-no room for creativity because you’re often operating in survival mode. Right?

And when we’re in survival mode we’re really pairing things down. I like to think of it like when your phone goes on low battery mode. It’s doing everything it can to conserve energy in order to get you a little closer to when you can plug your phone back into the charger.

Well, we operate similarly within our businesses.

If you’re in a season of burnout, you’re cutting all the external things—the fluff and even the fun stuff—so you can focus on the essentials. And unfortunately, your creativity falls victim, too.

Let me ask you this: when you’re in survival mode, are you really thinking about fueling your creativity? Are you thinking about inspiring yourself as an artist? 

Probably not, right?

You’re thinking of that top priority thing that needs to get done from your to-do list first.

THE SECRET NO ONE TOLD YOU ABOUT CREATIVITY

But here’s what I want you to remember when you’re in that tough season: creativity is not an external source, it is an internal life force.

Think of it this way, we often consider creativity as something that lives outside of us when we say things like: I’m going to seek inspiration or go out into the world in order to foster our creativity.

But what if we literally flipt the script.

What if we understood that we don’t actually see creativity externally we foster it internally. And if your creativity is something that lives within you, then that by definition is something you can tap into whenever you need it.

A book I’ve recently been loving is “The Artist’s Way” by Julia Cameron and one of the thoughts that Cameron shares at the beginning of her book is this idea that creativity is this spring inside of us that we can always tap into whenever we need it.

Instead of working through a season where you’re waiting for inspiration to strike or get into the mood in order to create, think of creativity as an infinite resource not a finite one.

To me, that’s such a beautiful idea packed with possibility!

So when you’re thinking about creativity I want you to realize it never leaves you fully.

When you’re in a season of survival mode, burnout and feeling anything but creative—I want you to remember that you’re creativity has not left you. It’s just gone to sleep.

HOW TO WAKE UP YOUR CREATIVITY

Think of your creativity as a little inner source that needs to be cared for and cultivated. When you’re in a season of burnout and you’re ignoring creativity, what do you think it’s going to do? 

It’s going to tuck itself into bed because it needs to conserve its energy, friend! So we need to focus on how we can gently wake it back up.

Some practical ways you can wake your creativity back up even in a season of burnout is to understand that the more you foster your relationship with your creativity, the more your creativity spreads.

The more you pour into your inner spring the more it grows.

Now, how you can kindly wake your creativity back up? Well, how would you want to be treated if someone were waking you up from a nap you so desperately needed?

You probably would want someone to speak kindly to you, poke you gently, and give you the space to rejoin life.

So why not do that with creativity?

Give your creativity the space to rejoin part of your everyday life and instead of viewing it as an external source, take time to feed your internal creativity.

THE NONNEGOTIABLE TO SELF CARE

This has been something that’s such a powerful part of my own journey as an entrepreneur over the last six months and it’s something that’s a nonnegotiable form of self care. And it’s really transformed the way I’m able to show up in my life and in my business. 

Friend, fostering your creativity does not have to be an extravagant process. It doesn’t have to be a massive commitment financially or timewise, but it does have to be nonnegotiable.

I believe that whatever you do for a living—even if it seems like the least creative thing you do— at your core friend, you’re a creative being. If you view yourself as anything less than that, I need for you to know that within us there’s an innate ability to create. So it’s our responsibility to foster that, care for it gently, and wake that creativity back up in order to go through life as our most wholehearted selves.

So that is the biggest misconception I’ve seen about creativity that so many creatives struggle with throughout the years. And as I’ve shared this knowledge with my students inside my group coaching program, the Heartfelt Brand Society, and even with some of my 1:1 branding clients— I’ve seen how this insight has transformed their relationship with creativity and by extension their ability to create. 

BELIEVE IN YOUR CREATIVITY

If you’re dreaming of what your life and business could look like if you had all the tools to do your best work, then I’d love to invite you to join me for the next round of my six-month group coaching program, the Heartfelt Brand Society. 

Doors for this intimate group coaching experience will be opening again so soon and those on the waitlist will have exclusive access to apply to join before anyone else.

So if you’re ready to take brave action on bringing your boldest and brightest dreams to life with me walking along you every step of the way over the next six months, then I would so love to have you pop your name below to join the waitlist.