Hi, patron saint of perpetual burnout here⊠;)
Here are some things that have helped me at various times:
First! Think about why you want to return to creating, make sure itâs because you want to do it. Every word of that is important. YOU want to do it, others are not pressuring you. You WANT to do it, you donât feel that you HAVE to or you will somehow, magically, tragically, become a different person or âloseâ something intrinsic by not creating. You want to DO it, not you want to have finished products, or you want to reconnect with a community, or you want the validation. Hear me out, a lot of things can make art miserable⊠none so much as ego, guilt, or strange ideas of self-identity. (Iâm not speaking from some lofty place here - some of my biggest self-reckonings in the last few years have been ego.)
Initially, donât return to projects from before your last creative block. Youâre going to be overwhelmed if you try to return to 100,000 word fic that everyone is waiting for or try to resume sculpting that large, super intricate figure you started before last Christmas that was SUPPOSED to go in your solo show (ha ha)- itâs kind of like throwing yourself out of a moving car and expecting to land on your feet. Start with something small, fun, and of no consequence.
Outline things you never intend to write, thumbnail comic pages you never intend to finish, do a lot of little sketches, sculpt things in clay for practice and then squish them. These low pressure activities help remind you that you are capable.
If you decide you want to do it, start today. If you say youâll start tomorrow, tomorrow you can say tomorrow again.
When I say âstart,â I mean try. Donât just say âI donât feel like it.â Make an honest effort, and if it feels bad, then stop. But sometimes opening the document or getting out the sketchbook sometimes feels impossible, and you may find yourself enjoying it once you get past that hurdle.
Again, if it feels bad, stop. Rest. Seriously, rest. Do something else. Play a video game, go for a walk.
Consume things that you enjoy. Be fucking ravenous, be hedonistic. Take in everything and process it. Talk about things youâre enjoying. If you donât water a plant, it probably wonât bloom. (And while weâre making stupid plant analogies, remember that nothing in nature blooms full time.)
And remember, you can rest as long as you need to.