You’re Creative…Now What?
You lie awake at night thinking about the new painting you want to create. You resonate with your favourite artist when they talk about their creative process. You often find yourself saying, “I could create something just like that,” but when it comes time to actually get the ideas flowing, nothing happens.
Yeah, you’re creative. And for you, it’s not just a trend.
I remember my eighth-grade graduation trip to Montreal. One of the highlights was a gymnastics class with Cirque du Soleil performers and trainers. While most of my classmates were enjoying the experience,I turned to my instructor and asked, “So… how did you get into this?”
Even then, I was fascinated by the stories behind people’s creative paths. I wasn’t just interested in what they did, but why and how they got there.
That curiosity has followed me into my 31-year-old self.
I’ve learned to accept that I can’t turn off my creativity or the way I think and feel about the world. Truthfully, it’s exhausting. I sometimes wish I could stop analyzing every detail or stop feeling everything so deeply. But instead of fighting it, I’ve learned to lean into it. To stop treating creativity like a distraction or hobby and start recognizing it as a core part of how my brain processes the world.
Sometimes creativity feels more like a weight than a gift, especially when you don’t have a structure in place. Especially when the ideas swirl around in your head, but never quite make it onto the canvas, the page, the screen, or the stage.
I started asking myself harder questions:
What if I stop waiting to feel ready and just begin?
What if I let go of the pressure I put on myself?
What would it look like to create something without knowing where it’s going?
This shift in thinking has given me clarity on how I approach the creative process. For now, Too Tired to be Inspired is where I channel all of my creative energy. I don’t know exactly where it’s going, but I know this is where it needs to be, for now.
Other days, it’s me imagining writing that bestselling novel, only to get distracted by the endless to-do list of everyday life. Oftentimes, it’s just me sitting with the creative process — messy, disorganized, and without any specific destination.
And I’m learning to give myself permission to just begin.
