I really appreciate your honesty in sharing this creative journey, especially the vulnerability around hitting creative roadblocks and the struggle to find space for stillness. It resonates with my own experiences—those times when external pressures or internal restlessness drown out inspiration. I’m fully with you on the need for stillness to let creativity flourish, and it takes real courage to reclaim it. For me, it's also about working through chaos, woundedness, and using those as fuel. Your words hit home—creativity truly is sacred. Thanks for sharing your process!
Ahhh I SO resonate with this after a year of digital nomading and finally settling again enough to hear my creative process come out of dormancy!! I also did not have the bandwidth for art while traveling full-time that part of me was deeply missed.
I’m so glad this one connected with you, and also so glad to know that I am not alone in this! It felt so bizarre not being able to access this piece of me at ALL while traveling — really looking forward to giving this it’s (long overdue) space to roam now that we’re back on land.
I stumbled across your substack randomly, and I couldn’t have read this piece on a better day. I have been in a 2 week slump of not wanting to work at all, having zero creative energy or energy of ANY kind and just feeling insanely guilty, ashamed, even embarrassed that I feel that way. As someone who runs a start up, it just feels like I don’t have time to be still…and yet I have a deep knowing it’s what I am craving. However the external and internal pressure of all the things make me feel like i’m “not allowed” to take this time or space. And so thanks to this beautiful piece of yours, I feel like there might not be anything wrong with me after all. Thank you for normalizing just being in the world.
Trisha I’m so happy this one found you when it did. I don’t know if you’re in a place that gets a real winter, but that is also a major consideration, too. So often we lose ‘motivation’ in the winter months and then try so hard to ‘fix’ that, but the truth is that these dips and lulls are a PART of the process, not a deviation from it — especially in the winter. Our bodies are always wiser than our minds are. Hope you give yourself full permission to be where you are, and thank you so much for reading and leaving this note. 💜
I love this! Yes, I’m in a place that has a real winter right now. And to add complication, every two or three weeks I fly to Costa Rica for 2 weeks. So vacillating between two wildly different climates has wreaked havoc on my body’s understanding of what to feel as well!
It’s fascinating how internalized it is to NOT give ourselves grace. We really do just expect ourselves to show up like good little robots!
Do you feel like you needed a LOT of stillness after you got back? I feel like after burnout (which isn’t the same, but also lacks stillness), I’ve had so much less brain capacity to create and dream. Like a couple hours of work would feel like a full day 😂 It’s getting better and better lately, but oof, that’s been tough to navigate!
At first, yes -- I think the quantity of general down time was important for me. But over the last few months it's shifted to where the quality of this stillness is more potent than the quantity. Making sure my quiet time doesn't sneakily involve scrolling or some type of activation or stimulation has been super helpful, and other practices to help my nervous system take a deep exhale.
I really appreciate your honesty in sharing this creative journey, especially the vulnerability around hitting creative roadblocks and the struggle to find space for stillness. It resonates with my own experiences—those times when external pressures or internal restlessness drown out inspiration. I’m fully with you on the need for stillness to let creativity flourish, and it takes real courage to reclaim it. For me, it's also about working through chaos, woundedness, and using those as fuel. Your words hit home—creativity truly is sacred. Thanks for sharing your process!
Thank you for your words, Lane, I appreciate it. Now that my nervous system is settling, the inner space is opening again, and it feels like a gift.
Ahhh I SO resonate with this after a year of digital nomading and finally settling again enough to hear my creative process come out of dormancy!! I also did not have the bandwidth for art while traveling full-time that part of me was deeply missed.
I’m so glad this one connected with you, and also so glad to know that I am not alone in this! It felt so bizarre not being able to access this piece of me at ALL while traveling — really looking forward to giving this it’s (long overdue) space to roam now that we’re back on land.
Beautiful, thought-provoking and inspiring. So agree that stillness is the nest in which creativity and self bloom.
What a beautiful day to share these words with us, Taylor! 😘
Rebe!! What a beautiful day to hear from YOU!! 🩷🩷🩷xoxo
I stumbled across your substack randomly, and I couldn’t have read this piece on a better day. I have been in a 2 week slump of not wanting to work at all, having zero creative energy or energy of ANY kind and just feeling insanely guilty, ashamed, even embarrassed that I feel that way. As someone who runs a start up, it just feels like I don’t have time to be still…and yet I have a deep knowing it’s what I am craving. However the external and internal pressure of all the things make me feel like i’m “not allowed” to take this time or space. And so thanks to this beautiful piece of yours, I feel like there might not be anything wrong with me after all. Thank you for normalizing just being in the world.
Trisha I’m so happy this one found you when it did. I don’t know if you’re in a place that gets a real winter, but that is also a major consideration, too. So often we lose ‘motivation’ in the winter months and then try so hard to ‘fix’ that, but the truth is that these dips and lulls are a PART of the process, not a deviation from it — especially in the winter. Our bodies are always wiser than our minds are. Hope you give yourself full permission to be where you are, and thank you so much for reading and leaving this note. 💜
I love this! Yes, I’m in a place that has a real winter right now. And to add complication, every two or three weeks I fly to Costa Rica for 2 weeks. So vacillating between two wildly different climates has wreaked havoc on my body’s understanding of what to feel as well!
It’s fascinating how internalized it is to NOT give ourselves grace. We really do just expect ourselves to show up like good little robots!
Do you feel like you needed a LOT of stillness after you got back? I feel like after burnout (which isn’t the same, but also lacks stillness), I’ve had so much less brain capacity to create and dream. Like a couple hours of work would feel like a full day 😂 It’s getting better and better lately, but oof, that’s been tough to navigate!
At first, yes -- I think the quantity of general down time was important for me. But over the last few months it's shifted to where the quality of this stillness is more potent than the quantity. Making sure my quiet time doesn't sneakily involve scrolling or some type of activation or stimulation has been super helpful, and other practices to help my nervous system take a deep exhale.