Creative Business, Creative Clarity Series
Published on June 2, 2025

The Creative Journey, Part 7: Surviving the Burnout Phases

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3128 words // 17min read time

Hello, lovely crafter! Today, I’m releasing Part 7 of 12 of the Creative Journey Series. I am so proud of this series, as it’s a deep dive into the life cycle of the creative art experience. I hope you will read the tips and insights, and decide where you are in the journey, gleaning any help that you can to guide you through to the next step. Head to the main page if you’re just jumping in and you want to start from the top. Enjoy!

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[Crochet Pattern Shown: The Gumdrop Garden Blanket]

3 Phases: Intro and Quick Links

The Creative Journey Series has an over-arching theme of 3 phases, each one with 4 parts, making the whole 12-part series. Here’s a quick overview again of the 3 phases, just so you know where you are in the journey. I’ll be adding this intro reminder at the top of each part through the series and hyperlinking Parts 1-12 as I go.

Phase 1, Imitation and Inspiration: Steps 1-4 are a deeper dive into Phase 1 of the Creative Journey. You can read more in my series post Creative Clarity, Episode 2: Phase 1 of the Artist’s Journey and a Deep Dive into the Realm of Copying

Phase 2, Innovation and Identity: Steps 5-8 break down Phase 2 of the journey, which is the topic of Creative Clarity, Episode 3: Phase 2 of the Artist’s Journey and How to Beat Creative Burnout

Phase 3, Integration and Ascension: Steps 9-12 will be a dive into Phase 3 of the journey, but this episode of Creative Clarity has not yet been released. I will be sure to release that episode before we begin Step 9.

  • Part 9: Sustaining Your Style
  • Part 10: Cross-Pollinate through Fusion and Play
  • Part 11: Staying True Despite Style Challenges
  • Part 12: Artistic Evolution – Never Stop Growing

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Part 7: Surviving the Burnout Phases

There’s a moment in every creative journey when you hit a wall. You’ve been making, pushing, experimenting. You’ve felt the high of new ideas and the momentum of progress. And then everything stops and the spark fades. You feel heavy, stuck, and tired. And maybe worse than tired: unsure if you even want to keep going.

This post is about that moment we rarely talk about: Burnout. But burnout isn’t a failure of creativity. It’s an inevitability that makes sure we stay on that spiral upward path. But you have to know how to survive the burnout phase and properly reset. Let’s talk about it. At length, because this is a huge topic for me.

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Burnout Doesn’t Mean You’re Broken

This post covers the true enemy of artistic success: creative burnout. I wanted to focus on burnout separately for the Creative Journey because it can become a huge problem for an artist if it is not handled properly.

According to various studies, a high ambition paired with low confidence to achieve can contribute to burnout via exhaustion. This exhaustion component can ultimately lead to long-term medical conditions including coronary heart disease, circulatory issues, sleep disturbances, substance abuse, depression, and anxiety. Burnout is serious, folks! Let’s talk more about it.

  • What is burnout vs. creative burnout?
  • What are the warning signs and symptoms of burnout?
  • How can I fix and prevent burnout?

First, let’s be clear: burnout doesn’t mean you’re lazy, unmotivated, or done. It means you’ve been overgiving. It means you’ve been pushing your energy past the point of restoration. It means your inner creative rhythm is trying to get your attention. Burnout is the body’s way of asking: Can we please do this differently now?

Often, burnout is a symptom of not just overwork, but over-identification with productivity. When your worth feels tethered to output, rest can feel like erasure. But in truth, burnout is a creative threshold. It asks you to shift, not stop.

Common Roots of Burnout:

  • Saying yes to too many projects without space to reflect
  • Creating in public without time to replenish in private
  • Moving from one phase of your work to another without integration
  • Chasing growth instead of alignment
  • Trying to be original before you’re rested

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What is Burnout?

Burnout is defined as a state of emotional, physical, and mental exhaustion caused by excessive and prolonged stress. It occurs when you feel overwhelmed, emotionally drained, and unable to meet constant demands.

According to Christina Maslach, social psychologist and burnout expert, the three components of burnout are:

  • Emotional exhaustion: Working at an extremely demanding level and the need to be continually present.
  • Depersonalization: Becoming more negative, cynical, impersonal, or cold with your family and friends. A loss of compassion.
  • Reduced personal accomplishment: A decreased sense of competence and an increasingly negative view on one’s own abilities. Doubting that your work makes a difference.

More possible causes of burnout:

  • Work/life imbalance
  • Taking on too many projects at once
  • Working on too many projects with deadlines
  • Poor self care / lack of sleep
  • Feeling out of control
  • Social isolation / toxic relationships
  • Overachiever mindset
  • Lack of career growth

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What is Creative Burnout?

In contrast to general burnout creative burnout is a loss of the ability to generate novel or useful ideas and solutions to everyday problems, function confidently as a contributing member of a creative team, and maintain faith in the creative process for yourself.

Creative burnout happens over time, in phases.

Phase 1: The cycle continues as burnout is unrelenting if left untreated. Starting a new project with energy and enthusiasm, buying or gathering supplies, and seeing the potential.

Phase 2: Stress sets in as you manage deadlines and battle with the inevitable “does this even work?” self-doubt phase. Stress compounds as other areas of your life are affected by your creative stressors.

Phase 3: Burnout begins as you reach your breaking point. Self doubt and maybe even physical symptoms occur, like stomach ache or head ache.

Some causes of creative burnout are:

  • Perfectionism. This is a huge one. Putting the perceived quality of your work over your own joy. Remember: Done is better than perfect. And perfection is just a myth.
  • Lack of boundaries. Saying “no” is extremely important and is a struggle for artists in phase 2 of their journey. Say no more often than you say yes. People respect you more when you tell them no.
  • Sacrifice of self. If you are consistently putting others before yourself, you may arrive in a creative burnout situation. Learn to stop being a people pleaser. This is your dream.
  • Too much multitasking. Being mindful is very important to creativity, and if you don’t focus on one thing at a time, you will face exhaustion as you are unlikely to complete any task. Stay present.

What Are the Warning Signs of Creative Burnout?

When these signs and symptoms begin to show, you may be creeping into creative burnout territory. It is important to recognize them and make changes to break the cycle.

  • Procrastinating – Long periods of procrastinating can lead to failure and compound creative hopelessness.
  • Constantly exhausted – Unable to cope, tired and down, not enough energy.
  • Lack of interest and motivation – Never checking off your art business to-dos.
  • Increasing self doubt – A feeling that your art isn’t good enough, or like you have impostor syndrome.
  • Dreading making art – Before you begin to create, you feel dread in the pit of your stomach.
  • Physical fatigue – Starting every day with half a tank of energy.
  • Wanting to give up altogether – Feeling like you should quit your creative art business dreams.
  • Consuming more than you produce – Spending way too much time online, consuming media, rather than creating and finishing art projects.
  • Constantly “checked out” and detached – Unplugging from the things that bring you joy and staring into space.

If you are experiencing these warning signs, or even physical signs such as headache, frequent illness, change in appetite or sleep, or stomachache, then it is time to make a change.

When you’re in burnout, it’s tempting to believe the spark is gone. But creativity is cyclical. It’s always there in different forms. Sometimes it’s bold and expressive. Sometimes it’s quiet and interior. Sometimes it’s gathering – which is the true work. Even when it looks like nothing is happening, something is always composting.

The job in this phase is not to sprint back to “normal.” It’s to stay curious enough to notice what new shape your creativity is asking to take.

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How to Fix and Prevent Burnout

Your art business should serve you, not the other way around. If you are burned out, then listen to your body and pull back a bit. Try some of the following advice.

  • Get back to the basics of your art. Pretend you are a beginner and learn everything from the beginning. Work on a project that is well below your skill level for a fast and easy, stress-free make.
  • Think about your purpose and original motivation to create. Get back to the why of your creative work. Beyond money and success, there must be a deeper reason why you are an artist.
  • Prioritize your health. Make time for sleep and for restorative activities. Activity boosts creativity and lowers stress. 
  • Seek new and fresh inspiration. In Episode 2 of Creative Clarity, we talked about the first phase of being an artist. I dig deep into how to find inspiration, so you can start there!
  • Cut out the negative media that you consume. Take a break from social media, and when you come back to it, have set times that you can browse it. Limit the amount of apps that you are on to one or two. Avoid the combative side of social media.
  • Seek support from the people in your life. Reach out to loved ones, friends, and even peers. Chances are they have experienced what you have and can relate.
  • Look back at your previous accomplishments. It’s easy to forget the amazing things we have done, especially in times of self doubt. Of course, half of our art is just so-so, and a small percentage is actually great, so for the great projects, remember that it wasn’t easy to achieve them, and for the so-so projects, think about how far you’ve come.

Remember that creative burnout has nothing to do with your true passion, work ethic, or talent. It is simply a disconnect in your work/life balance. The fixes and preventions are not cure-alls. The cycle will continue if you are not aware of the signs and symptoms, and if you do not step in to solve them.

Rest and Reset

If burnout taught you anything, let it be this: you don’t need to earn your rest.

Sustainable creativity is not about balance. It’s about rhythm. It’s about knowing when to push and when to pause, when to share, and when to retreat. You’re not a machine. You’re a human being on the upward spiral of your creative journey.

Reflective Prompts:

  • What warning signs show up before burnout hits you?
  • What early rituals help you reconnect with your work?
  • What do you want rest to feel like (not just physically, but creatively?)
  • How can you build pause into your process before the crash?

We often treat rest like the space between “real” work. But for creatives, rest isn’t passive. It’s a restorative state where old ideas break down and new ones take root. You’re not pausing the journey. You’re in the journey, but you’re just underground for a while.

Creative Ways to Rest Without Disconnecting:

  • Revisit a beginner-level project just for pleasure
  • Make something tactile, small, and low-stakes (a swatch, a sketch, a color test)
  • Limit your tools, and let that constraint carry you
  • Take walks, garden, cook – in other words, some physical activities that don’t demand performance
  • Read or watch work outside your medium with no expectation to apply it

Rest is a crucial step that lets everything else work.

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How I Fixed My Most Recent Creative Burnout

In the Fall, I tend to spiral into burnout which is compounded by the anxiety that the end of the year is approaching and I just didn’t finish all of the things I wanted to accomplish. Fall of 2022 was no different, and I knew I had to do something to pull myself back from the proverbial creative burnout ledge.

I decided to do what usually helps me when I approach creative burnout: Get back to basics! And the Gumdrop Garden Blanket crochet pattern was born. In January of 2023, the majority of my creative time was spent churning out the simple squares of the Gumdrop Garden Blanket. I felt so accomplished as the squares piled up, and the simple design made for a stress-free creative time.

Each episode of Creative Clarity has a crochet pattern that goes with it, and this month my goal for the crochet pattern portion was to highlight my new Gumdrop Garden Blanket. This pattern was released as a freebie on April 15th, and so far, I have made 5 blanket’s worth of squares…

This is how the crochet blanket looks – isn’t it gorgeous? I have used Scheepjes Softfun, straight from my yarn stash, as this piece is meant to make all of your odd remnants look amazing.

The condensed PDF version of this pattern is available for convenient printing on Etsy and Ravelry, and both US and UK Terms PDFs are included in the purchase.

We tend to think of burnout as a collapse to a dead end where energy drains and ideas dry up. It can feel like you’ve broken something. But what’s actually happening is that your creative system is asking for a recalibration.

So, if you:

  • You can’t start new work, no matter how small
  • You feel disconnected from your past pieces
  • The idea of sharing, finishing, or performing feels heavy
  • Even planning your next step feels overwhelming

You may be in this part of the Creative Journey. Take a break, get back to basics, and remember why you fell in love with your art in the first place.

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Burnout Can Feel Like You’re Letting People Down

One of the hardest parts of burnout is the guilt that follows. You may start to feel like you’re disappearing, falling behind, or letting down people who’ve come to expect your energy, your output, or your voice. Particularly if you have a social media following.

It’s especially tough if your creativity is tied to community, whether that’s an audience, customers, collaborators, or even your family. The pressure is real.. It builds slowly: from expectation, routine, and how deeply we tie our worth to what we make (and who sees it). It does come from others, but often as a reflection of how we see ourselves.

Keith Haring once wrote, “The artist’s duty is to be alive to the moment, and to respond.”

He felt responsible to keep producing, to stay visible, to reflect the moment, even when he was ill and feeling depleted. His art was joyful and bold, but the cost was real. The pressure to stay prolific can be both empowering and corrosive. Let this be a reminder: you are not obligated to be endlessly available to others through your art. When burnout hits, step back not just for your craft, but for your selfhood.

When burnout hits, don’t push harder. Don’t redesign your entire life. Instead, go back to the beginning.

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Creative Voices to Follow

These artists and writers speak directly to this part of the journey. When choosing inspiration artists, if you’re feeling unsure of your ability, ask yourself what you would do if fear was eliminated from the equation.

  • Jenny Odell – Explores rest and resistance in a culture of over-productivity. “How to Do Nothing“
  • Agnes Martin – Minimalist painter who believed in silence, patience, and repetition as creative strength.
  • Anne Truitt – Sculptor whose journals reveal the psychological cycles of creative commitment.
  • Austin Kleon – Advocates for slow growth, quiet practice, and consistent small creative acts. “Steal Like an Artist“
  • Mary Oliver – Poet who drew deeply from nature and solitude, reminding us that presence is a form of making. “Owls and Other Fantasies“

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10 Ways to Move Through Burnout Gently

  • Let this be part of the work, not the interruption of it.
  • Name it. Say: “I’m in burnout.” That acknowledgment is powerful.
  • Remove the pressure to make something good. Make something true instead.
  • Revisit a favorite project and just hold it. You don’t have to fix it.
  • Unfollow the noise for a day. Let silence shape the way.
  • Switch mediums and make something that doesn’t “count.”
  • Write down what you miss and don’t miss about your creative flow.
  • Choose one color or material that feels soft, and let it guide a small piece.
  • Create a “rest stash” of projects or ideas you only touch when you’re tired.
  • Talk to another creative about burnout. Share the honesty. You’re not alone.

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Thank you for reading this part of the Creative Journey Series! Next Monday, we will look at Part 8: The Power of Finding Your Unique Voice. Part 8 will help you see when you’ve you stop floundering in the muddy waters of the messy middle, and you suddenly start speaking in your own voice. This step will help you see when you’re there.

Hope you have a great week, and happy crafting!

Rachele C.

Order my crochet pattern book: The Art of Crochet Blankets

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