If you’re struggling to set boundaries with your work, aren’t happy with your job, can’t take the pressure, or are stuck in a funk, we’re here to help! Here’s an overview of creative burnout and how you can equip yourself with tools to avoid it in the future.
Are you interested in getting professional guidance through your chronic burnout? Contact NYC Therapeutic Wellness so we can help you grow, heal, and thrive!
What Is Creative Burnout?
Creative burnout is when you feel like you’ve been drained of all your creativity and nothing is left. It’s when you feel exhausted by the idea of working and dread starting your next project because you always feel tired and stressed.
Burnout of any kind is a challenging experience. However, when your job relies on your creativity, it can sometimes feel like you’re stuck in a pit and too tired to get out. It can be tough to cut it in NYC, and you may feel pressured to continue producing amazing work, but you may not have the energy for it anymore.
When you’ve hit creative burnout, this can feel like a major hurdle you have to overcome when you’re already exhausted. It can often lead to you losing passion for what you once loved and leave you dreading the work week. You may not want to work anymore or have the motivation to accomplish your goals.
Creative burnout can occur when you’ve overworked yourself, have self-induced pressure, and feel stuck. When this occurs, you can feel like there is too much on your plate to handle and that you’re not sure how to keep improving your work.
Getting out of this rut can seem challenging, but working with a therapist can put you back on track. When you can heal and overcome your creative burnout, you’ll be right back on top, knocking out all your projects with amazing work and passion as you did before.
What Are Signs of Creative Burnout?
Whether working in a bustling downtown Manhattan or from home, you’re still capable of overworking yourself. And each time you feel burnout, your experience may be different.
Creative burnout can look different for everyone, and for each occasion, it happens. The symptoms are varied, but they can affect everyone. Some signs to look out for include:
- Exhaustion or feeling constantly drained
- Feeling overwhelmed or unable to cope
- Frustration and feelings of reduced professional ability
- Cynicism and irritability
- Procrastination and dreading starting work
- Frequent headaches or stomach and bowel problems
- Long-term procrastination
- Struggling with basic work
- In-explainable stress
- Unhealthy comparisons
- Unbalanced content consumption
- Harmful habits to avoid work
- Self-doubt leads to avoiding projects
The symptoms can have a physical and mental toll on you. So, recognizing the signs of burnout can help you see why you’re feeling continually exhausted and help you get back on track.
How to Overcome and Cope with Creative Burnout
So you’ve identified that you are suffering from creative burnout but are unsure what to do next. Trying to regain your creativity may seem helpless and forced creativity can be frustrating and feel inauthentic. However, solving your creative burnout isn’t about creativity but helping yourself.
The following are a few ways that you can overcome and cope with your creative burnout.
Are you interested in getting guidance through your burnout? Contact NYC Therapeutics today to learn how we can help you!
Rediscover Your Purpose
One thing that typically comes with creative burnout is the feeling of lost motivation and purpose. You may need to continually remind yourself why you have your job or loved it in the first place.
If you’re struggling to work through these feelings, remember why you chose your path, how it feels to create something meaningful, and how much you want to do it again. When you reinstate your motivation, you’ll be more open to creativity and allow yourself to follow your ambitions again.
Reevaluate Your Schedule and Environment
Your feelings of burnout can result from your schedule and work environment. A busy schedule can make you feel great sometimes, as it may seem like you’re accomplishing a lot. However, this constant grind can put you behind in the long run when you forget to prioritize your mental health.
Even the fast-paced environment of New York can feel great, but it can become overwhelming. Although this may push you to continue reaching for your goals and ambitions, you may sometimes feel as if it’s too much pressure. If you can reevaluate to see if your schedule or environment is weighing too heavy on you, then you can create boundaries and a schedule that will support and nurture your creativity.
Increase Your Challenges
Pushing yourself to create a challenge that helps you work towards your goals can boost your motivation. If you can identify a place within your work that you’d like to improve upon, you can work to increase your skill level. Doing this can motivate you to accomplish something that feels different but can help your overall work.
You can consider challenging yourself or increasing your skill level when you feel like you’ve been suffering from creative burnout. This can help you jump-start your creativity to get you back into your workflow.
How to Avoid Creative Burnout
It can’t be guaranteed that you’ll avoid creative burnout in the future. However, a few practices you can implement into your busy lifestyle will help you avoid burnout in the first place. Since there could be several causes behind your burnout, finding the key to preventing your burnout may take some trial and error.
The following are some ways to avoid creative burnout:
- Reflect on your progress, goals, and motivations
- Have mindful productivity that sustains your ambitious needs
- Create habits, routines, and rituals that help you feel balanced
- Limit how much content you’re receiving and giving to continue sustainability
- Allow structured distractions that give you a break from hyper-focused work
When you can practice a balanced work and lifestyle, this can help you avoid feelings of creative burnout. If you’re unsure how you can maintain this or where you should start, you can get help from professional therapists.
How Therapy Can Help Creative Burnout
Getting help with your creative burnout can boost your health and get you back on track. And going to a professional therapist can help you with that.
NYC Therapeutic Wellness is a counseling practice in Midtown Manhattan, NY, that specializes in helping you achieve personal growth, cope with anxiety or depression, navigate life changes, and get advice on dating and relationships. We know that the hustle and bustle of New York can become overwhelming and sometimes lead to burnout. We’re here to help you stay grounded in your mental health and help you navigate your life to meet your goals.
If you’re struggling with creative burnout, we can help you recover and get you back on track. You’ll feel more motivated to get back to work and find yourself excited by those challenges again. Let us help you get back on track and find satisfaction in your day-to-day life.
Are you ready to regain your creative flow? Contact NYC Therapeutic Wellness today to see which one of our therapists is the right fit for you!