Feeling stuck in the creative process

Have you ever found yourself so deep in the process of creating something—and it could be anything—that you feel like you’re in danger of losing track of what it is you’re trying to do?

Or have you suddenly felt exhausted, inspiration gone, your tank completely empty of ideas?

It’s a feeling akin to suddenly finding yourself no longer on a path you’d previously thought was stretching comfortably ahead of you. Step by step was all it was going to take (you were sure), but, now, here you are, grass beneath your feet instead of pavement.

And that path? Gone.

Boy, is this a familiar feeling to me. The whole thing (whatever it is that I’m doing) starts to feel unwieldy. Too big to handle and too slippery to hold on to. The details begin to blur, and I find it increasingly hard to know what I should do next, or even remember why I started to doing it all in the first place.

And then I start to think that I might just be better off giving up, letting the whole thing go. It’s obviously a waste of time and effort and if it’s this hard to keep going then it’s also —obviously—not worth continuing anyway. Am I right?

In other words, I feel stuck.

Stepping back

Luckily, I’ve learnt to give myself a bit of grace, because I now know that feeling stuck or, at the very least, feeling uncertain, is just as much a part of creating something as moving forward. It’s an entirely normal part of the creative process.

Given everything we see and hear, it can certainly seem as if everyone else is having it easy or that everyone else knows exactly what to do and then just gets on with it. That all it takes to create something, anything, is inspiration like a bolt of lightning and, hey, off you go.

Nope.

Creativity isn’t about always knowing exactly where you’re going next, and it most certainly is never a straight line. Instead, it’s about finding your way as you go. It’s about experimenting, making mistakes and then making them again. It’s changing direction, looping around and maybe even ending up back where you started.

It’s about embracing all of this as part and parcel of creating something.

But it’s also about giving yourself a break, and I mean this both in the sense of showing yourself a bit of self-compassion and in the sense of actually taking a real break.

Give yourself a break

Give yourself permission to take a break, take a step back, do…nothing.

Stepping back might feel counterintuitive, especially when it feels like you’re in danger of dropping the whole thing. But stepping away can be exactly what you need. A break—a complete break— gives your mind space to process what you’ve done so far.

It lets you return with fresh eyes, and chances are you’ll find yourself seeing possibilities you might never have considered. Sometimes the best ideas come when you have your back turned, and what felt like a problem before might well solve itself after a break.

Even a short break can help you gather the energy you need to reconnect with what you’re trying to do and have you taking that next step (in whichever direction that might be).

The key is to stop what you’re doing and shift your attention away from it. It doesn’t have to be a long break. Even a few minutes can be enough.

Things you could do while taking that break

• step outside for a few minutes
• go for a walk. Sometimes I do this with music and other times I just walk, letting my thoughts come and go as they please
• do a few stretches
• make a cup of tea
• lie on the floor, shut your eyes, and just…breathe

As for me, sometimes I’ll pat the cat, play the piano (as long as piano-playing isn’t the project in the first place), read for a while, dance in the kitchen while I wait for the kettle to boil.

You get the idea.

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The Creativity Compass

I believe so strongly that taking a break is such an integral part of the creative process (no matter what it is you’re doing and no matter how big or small) that I created a tool to validate this and all creative steps.

The creativity compass is a simple, flexible tool designed to help you navigate the ups and down of the creative process. It validates each choice you make—including doing nothing at all—and gives you a way to check in with yourself, explore options, and decide on your next move.

You can not only use it as a guide but also as a reminder that each and every step you take, including the ones off the path, are valid.

Want to give it a try? Download it for free, and let me know what you think!