I want to share something I read in Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way that I really resonated with. This is for all the artists when you are feeling creatively burnt out. And it has to do with recharging yourselves.
“As artists, we must learn to be self-nourishing… Filling the well involves the active pursuit of images to refresh our artistic reservoirs… In filling the well, think magic. Think delight. Think fun. Do not think duty. Do not do what you should do.”
What Cameron is talking about here is an artistic reservoir that we have to maintain. As artists, we must be conscious of when our well is full and when it is drained.
When you are feeling creatively burnt out, this is a calling to fill the well. So how do we do this?
We do things that we want to do, not things that we have to do. Not things we “should” do. Follow your bliss. Do something that is fun.
What is something that warms your heart?
- Is it listening to a vinyl record?
- Reading a fun book you have been looking forward to?
- Going on a picnic? Hiking?
- Drawing if you’re a writer?
- Writing if you’re a drawer?
If you’re reading this and an activity comes to mind right away, then do that. There’s a reason why that activity is coming up right away. And it probably means that your body deeply needs to do it. Trust the answers within.
I love playing music and being outside in nature. So for me, nothing fills the well quite like playing my guitar outside on a nice day. I’m in heaven. It’s pure bliss and it’s as if I physically feel my inner well filling up.
Make sure that the activity is healthy for your body, mind, and spirit. I would recommend you not to doom scroll or eat junk food if it’s “fun” on the surface. Ultimately you have to decide what you feel is best. Remember this…
Different activities, actions, and habits affect the status of this well.
You know deep down inside which ones fill the well and which ones drain the well.
Doom scrolling is a quick way to drain the well. I have talked about this many times on here and I just made a video about it on my Youtube.
I want you to truly think about how scrolling is affecting your creative energy. Is it filling or draining the well?
I believe for the most part, it drains us of it. Scrolling tricks our senses into thinking we have done all the touching, seeing, hearing, smelling, and tasting we have to do for the day. The body registers that we are “done” for the day because we have experienced it all.
We have no reason to want to create more.
So, you have to return to your senses.
Fill your well. Do things that are healthy forms of sense stimulation. Remind your body of what it’s like to physically and intellectually stimulate yourself, no through a screen.
Journal about your creative energy. Where your well is currently at. And ask yourself if certain actions are filling or draining your well.
And lastly, if you are creatively burnt out, how can you fill your well?
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