Five Ways Back into Making Things
For anyone who used to make things and has not 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 is 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 somehow is a powerful therapeutic tool.
Here are five simple ways to re-engage your expressive muscles without overwhelming your nervous system:
The 'Authentic Self': What Is It, and Does It Help to Search for the 'Real Me'?
For anyone exhausted from searching for the 'real me' – or wondering who they are beneath the mask.
The modern demand to 'be yourself'
We live in a culture saturated with the demand to be ‘authentic’.
We see it on social media slogans, corporate leadership seminars, and wellness wall art, all urging us to strip away our filters, ‘live our truth’, and reveal our ‘real’ self. It might be presented as some kind of moral virtue - if you are not showing up unfiltered in every room, you are being inauthentic.
For values-driven people, late-diagnosed neurodivergents, and anyone experiencing the strain of high-responsibility caring or community work, this advice is unlikely to feel liberating.
Many of my coaching clients arrive feeling like imposters. They tell me they have spent decades masking ADHD or Autistic traits, adapting to rigid workplaces, or people-pleasing to maintain relationships, to the point where they question who they really are now. They wonder whether their tendency to adapt their tone, body language, and energy depending on who they are with is a problem. The search for an elusive, permanent ‘authentic self’ can become another standard to fail.