Filling your creative cup

Let’s take a minute to talk about how you’re filling your creative cup.

I’ve had a few conversations lately with people who are feeling burnt out or disillusioned with their direction. Perhaps it’s a result of the year that was - where for many creative businesses, it was about pushing forward with whatever work was available and not necessarily what you were entirely passionate about. But in doing so, you feel like you might have lost a little bit of your soul in the process.

I do see this happen a lot with creatives and I think it’s because your job isn’t just ‘a job’. For many of you, your job is part of your identity, and in turn, your overall sense of fulfilment.

So what happens when you have a cup that is continually being emptied by tasks or projects that aren’t fulfilling you? You can feel:

• Burnt out

• Resentful

• Disinterested

• Lost

So how do you break the cycle and refill your cup?

Firstly, take a look at the projects you’ve worked on for the past 18 months and be honest with yourself about how passionate you were/are about each of them. For the projects that really hit the fulfilment jackpot, take a closer look at what it was that ticked all of those boxes for you. This is the key to finding or agreeing to be a part of projects in the future.

Secondly, if you’re in a position where you can’t change what you are working on, I want you to look outside of your job to uncover ways you can fill your creative cup. Is there a side project you’ve always wanted to tackle? Is there a creative hobby that you’ve forgotten about? It could be about getting more ‘you’ time - time to quieten the mind and get out in nature.

To find fulfilment in your work, it’s important to check in with how your cup is being filled - or depleted. Are you prioritising creativity or sacrificing it?

If you’d like to understand other ways you can refill your cup, take a read of The 7 Types of Rest Every Person Needs by Dr. Saundra Dalton-Smith at TEDxAtlanta.