5 Blocks Holding You Back From Living Your Best Creative Life
Writer’s block killing your mojo? These five things may be the culprit.
You’ve seen the videos of Youtubers giving up, taking extended breaks, and explaining in one way or another that they’re utterly exhausted.
But even outside of the Youtube world, creatives everywhere are struggling with feeling lost, stuck, overwhelmed, and just generally burned out.
I’ve coached a bunch over the last few years and I’ve noticed that the same things tend to hold creatives back when it comes to not just getting work done, but also enjoying the journey along the way.
Whether it expresses itself as writer’s block, a creative block, or mental and emotional block…these “blocks” all tend to come from the same combination of circumstances.
#1 You’re doing too much
We all come from the same capitalist hustle culture that tells us that our only value is in how much we produce.
But allowing work to pile onto our plates and splitting our attention in a million different directions is the fastest way to burn out.
The only way to address this is to do less.
What can you do to take some things off your plate? More importantly, are you allowing things to be taken off your plate?
#2 You have no system
If taking on too much leads to burnout, then not having a system is like adding gasoline to the fire. Not having a system can lead to working all the time, but never actually getting anything done.
What would it be like if tasks didn’t get lost or forgotten, but instead were completed in a calm, orderly fashion?
#3 Your expectations are unrealistic
This is an issue of constant comparison. We see others putting reams of work out into the world, and it distorts our understanding of what our own capacity is to get work done.
Keep your eyes on your own paper. Focus on what works for you instead of comparing yourself to what other people can do.
#4 You’re not addressing other needs
I’ve been that writer who shuns everything else to get a script in on deadline. And I’ve been that comedian who obsessively performs at the detriment of everything else in my life.
I do think there’s a time and a place for obsession and tunnel vision. But when burnout starts to creep in, or your life starts to collapse around you, it may be time to start addressing the fact that you have other needs- like sleep, time to do nothing, and time to connect with family and friends.
#5 You have unhealed/unresolved trauma that needs to be addressed
You may be going about your life, struggling to work, and maintain relationships, and have no idea why everything just feels so… hard.
The reason might be that you grew up in a situation where it didn’t feel safe to be yourself so you were forced to hide your true self to survive.
In adulthood this learned masking shows up as self-doubt, playing small, people-pleasing, self-abandonment, a dysregulated nervous system, and a whole host of other things that make it feel impossible to be your most calm, loving, and authentic self.
The solution? You have to address your underlying unhealed trauma. Your distress is the body’s way of trying to unload it. It may be scary, but it’s necessary if you want to finally be able to stop surviving and start thriving for once.
