How to Replenish Your Creative Energy After a Busy Period
Have you ever felt like you needed a weekend to recover from the weekend? And for many artists, musicians, and creatives, the traditional idea of the weekend doesn’t even apply! It’s always tough to continue on without a break right after a performance, show, or launch, when you don’t have the luxury of taking quite enough time to rest and replenish your creative energy.
In my creative coaching work, I always advise my clients to plan ahead for some extra rest time after busy periods, but we all know that sometimes life happens and the best laid plans don’t work out. What we would consider ideal isn’t always possible, but we can always take steps in a positive direction.
Here are some quick and easy-to-implement ways to take some of the physical and mental load off while you’re recovering from a time that’s used a lot of your energy resources, so you can get back to feeling like your best self and channel that energy into sparking creativity.
You might notice that most of these don’t overtly have to do with creativity - that’s because we have to take care of ourselves first, before we can have the energy to do our best work!
MY FAVORITE EASY WAYS TO REPLENISH CREATIVE ENERGY
Set an intention for how you want to feel that day
This will help you feel more grounded and less likely to get pulled right back onto the hamster wheel that made you feel depleted in the first place.
Check in with your body and mind
Try these prompts:
How are you feeling right now?
What needs your attention?
How can you give it that attention in a small, manageable way?
Are you in need of more rest?
What kind of rest do you need? (Check out my post on 8 types of rest that artists need, if you need some inspiration.)
When we’re in survival mode, trying to get through a stressful time, there’s usually not time to process feelings and needs, and they go by the wayside.
Sometimes when I feel crabby and don’t know what I need, I ask my inner child what she wants. It’s often something simple or “silly”, but it’s really not silly to do things that make yourself feel good, especially after feeling deprived by not having extra free time for a while. Also, checking in with my inner child is one of my favorite ways to rekindle my creative energy.
This photo lives above my desk, so I don’t forget about little Rebecca, and what she wants!
Take short breaks throughout the day to do things that feel good - this isn’t frivolous!
Here are some of my favorite short feel-good break activities:
Breathing
Eat a square of chocolate
Stretching
Reading something enjoyable
Sit in the sun
Play some samba jams (AKA creating purely for enjoyment)
A break doesn’t have to be long to have a replenishing and refreshing effect on your energy. When you feel like you don’t have time for a break, that’s when you need it the most. I know that I actually save time by taking breaks, since it makes me more effective and happier, and leaves more space for creative ideas to bubble up!
Be extra nice to yourself
For example: “I didn’t get up as early as I wanted to, that’s okay,” is much more self-compassionate than “TODAY IS RUINED!” If the catastrophic negative is your default response, and you can’t force a more cheerful one, just try questioning whether the negative response is true, or has to be true. If being self compassionate feels unfamiliar, think about how you would treat a loved one who’s having a hard time.
Prioritize the basics that might have been lacking during the busy time
Prioritize sleep, healthy food, drinking plenty of water, exercise, etc. Don’t get down on yourself for missing this stuff lately, just restart it kindly, with the knowledge that you’re doing something good for yourself that will also have a positive effect on sparking your creative energy!
Relax expectations of functioning at 100% capacity
After the stress of finishing a project or getting through a busy stretch of time, you’re most likely feeling depleted, which is totally normal. Even if you’re not feeling 100%, you can still feel like you’re moving in the right direction of having more energy.
Make time to “dig out”
If you’ve been really busy with one project (or juggling many projects!), it’s likely that other things have been on the back burner, simmering or maybe threatening to boil over. Blocking off time to catch up on email and routine tasks might make you feel pulled away from more important “productive” things, but it’ll make you feel a lot better not to let those things keep looming.
Also, making time for personal, soulful replenishment, creative or otherwise, is another important form of “digging out” when you haven’t had a lot of time to yourself. For me, journaling and creating just for fun feel like a coveted, thirst-quenching cool glass of water and help me return to feeling like my best self.
Identify where you can choose to take a slower, more intentional pace
Working at a pace that feels best with your current energy level is one of the main tenets of compassionate productivity. (What’s that, you ask? Learn more in this podcast episode: Compassionate Productivity in Your Real Life.)
This might feel counterintuitive because you’re trying to catch up, but if you aren’t at 100% energy, rushing is likely to cause more stress and prolong you from replenishing to your normal energy level. Nobody wants to drag themselves through day after day feeling like a zombie!
Sometimes when we’re trying to regain our creative spark, we have to slow down first before we can speed back up.
Accept that you’ll probably feel behind
You’re probably going to feel a bit behind as you reacclimate into reintegrating all your normal activities, and it’s much more helpful to accept that as normal (while also doing your best) than it is to be hard on yourself about it. It also will probably take longer than you’d like to “feel normal” afterwards, but trying a few things on this list is a great way to practice proactive patience with yourself!
Lastly, fellow type A creative people, I’m looking at you - you don’t have to treat this list as a checklist, or feel like you have to do every item - each one will have a positive impact on its own, and we integrate habits better when we take it one at a time.
Also, you definitely don’t have to treat this list as a checklist or feel like you have to do every item - each one will have a positive impact on its own, and we integrate habits better, one at a time!
If you want to learn how to manage your time and energy better, so that your next big project won’t leave you feeling so burned out afterward, I’d love to help.
Sign up for a discovery call below so you can avoid overwhelm and replenish energy for creating the art that makes you feel most aligned with your goals, passions, and your best self!
What are your favorite strategies for recovering after a big event or stressful time? Which one of these suggestions are you going to try first? Let me know in the comments!
Pianist and composer
