For anyone who used to make things and hasn’t for a while.
When people tell me they have not made anything in months or years, there is usually an imaginary project standing in the doorway. It might be a complete screenplay, an oil painting, an album, or a finished collection of essays. Because daily life is already exhausting, the prospect of starting something that monumental triggers an immediate freeze response. Your brain looks at the energetic cost of a project and decides you don’t have the capacity, so you scroll on your phone instead.
The mistake we often make is confusing creative expression with production. When you’re dealing with chronic stress or burnout, the point of creativity isn’t output, talent, or an audience. It’s a way of letting go of tension, allowing yourself to complete an emotional cycle, and moving out of stuckness. And the way back into creativity doesn’t have to be an ambitious project. It’s far less daunting to start with five minutes of low-stakes play.
I'd advocate for everyone having some form of expression – getting emotions, thoughts, ideas and challenges out of our heads and into the world in some way is a powerful therapeutic tool.
Here are five simple ways to re-engage your expressive muscles without overwhelming your nervous system:
1. Carry a notebook and jot the fleeting thought
Avoid buying a pristine journal that demands great wisdom. Keep a cheap notebook in your pocket or a single scrap file on your phone. When an odd phrase catches your ear on the bus, or a sudden thought surfaces while boiling the kettle, write it down as soon as you can. Don’t try to polish it or turn it into a poem - capture the impulse and move on. This can help you to remind yourself that your imagination is still active and you’re still capable of generating ideas, even when you feel depleted.
2. Walk and attend to sensory detail
Step outside for ten minutes without a podcast or playlist in your ears. Pick one sensory thread for the walk: colour, sound, smell, or shape. You might spend ten minutes looking exclusively for shades of rust and ochre, or listening for the layers of sound beneath the traffic noise. Tuning your senses this way pulls the brain out of abstract rumination and anchors you back in physical reality, creating the space for creative thought.
3. Sing in the shower
Your voice is a powerful tool for both self-expression and grounding. Humming or vocalising while the water runs provides sound masking and acoustic warmth, reducing the fear of being overheard. Sustaining an extended exhale stimulates your diaphragm and vagus nerve, helping an activated autonomic nervous system to stand down. It doesn’t matter what you sing or whether you are in tune; the breath will slow your system, and the sound vibration helps you let go of muscular bracing.
4. Write for five minutes without stopping
Set a timer for five minutes, put a pen to paper, and write without lifting the nib. The single rule is that you cannot pause, edit, or re-read. If your mind goes blank, write ‘my mind is blank’ until the next impulse arrives. Bypassing your conscious filter disarms the inner critic that insists on perfection. When the alarm sounds, stop mid-sentence and put the paper aside. It’s a great way to let go of anything you’re ruminating on, generate creative ideas, and connect with your subconscious.
5. Doodle while watching TV
Leave a pen and a blank page next to where you sit in the evening. While watching a film or series, start with a simple squiggle, a spiral, or a cross-hatch. Do not plan an image. Just keep adding marks, filling in negative space, and building on the pattern until the page is covered. Because your conscious attention is partially occupied, your perfectionist brain stops policing your hands.
I invite you to pick one of these today. Maybe you’ll grab the nearest back-of-an-envelope, set a timer for five minutes, write whatever disjointed nonsense surfaces, and throw it in the recycling bin.
The purpose is not to produce something impressive or permanent, but to give your nervous system permission to make a mark on the world, release what is stuck, and let the pressure drop.
Working together
If you are navigating burnout, creative paralysis, or the strain of high-responsibility work, somatic coaching helps you calm your nervous system and recover your energy.
Explore 1:1 support on my Coaching page, or book a free discovery call to discuss where you might begin.