Feeling Burnt Out Creatively? — Indulge In Art Made By Others.
The purpose of art is washing the dust of daily life off our souls.
Upcoming episode on Becoming A Writer podcast this Saturday — we are going to talk about how consistency can help you become the writer of your dreams.
The purpose of art is washing the dust of daily life off our souls.
- Pablo Picasso
Some days just don’t vibe right.
I was sitting at my desk, working on an essay, when I stopped mid-sentence and said, “What the heck am I even writing?” I re-read the sentence, deleted it and wrote again. After a couple, I realised my brain hadn’t geared into the writing mode yet. I pushed the keyboard away and walked away from my desk.
When I don’t get my writing done, I get cranky. I don’t want to talk to anyone; I don’t want to do anything; I don’t want to read or watch anything. After a few minutes of plopping myself on my sofa and doing nothing, I got bored. So I turned on the TV, hoping to find something that didn’t need my attention and could be played as background noise to keep my boredom busy. And I stumbled upon one of my favourite whodunnit movies, Rian Johnson’s Knives Out.
Two hours and ten minutes later, my brain felt fresh, and my mood perked up. As I stretched my crouched spine, I wondered what I could do now. “Let’s write,” I hear my inner voice say. Taking a moment to reflect, I agreed with the voice and made my way to my desk.
Another couple of hours later, I had written two essays of about 800 words each, planned the next one, and wrote five pages in my journal. I still had some adrenal to keep writing, but other chores of the house were beckoning me, so I had to stop. But since I had written more than I had hoped to start with, I was happy to stop and come back to it the next day.
Later at night, while lying in bed, I wonder how my writing session went from crappy to happy just because I took a break and re-watched a favourite movie. That’s when it hit me — indulging in someone else’s creativity reignited mine. If you could look at my face at this moment, you would have seen a big exclamation mark on it.
How Indulging In Other People’s Art Helps You Recover From Creative Burnout?
Inspiration and creativity boost. This is the first effect to happen to me — losing myself in someone’s art that I admire gave me the necessary push to get back working on mine. The Knives Out incident wasn’t the first time it happened to me; this was the first time I noticed it. When I looked back to days when I was pumped to get my writing done, I realised that on many occasions, I had immersed myself in someone else’s work beforehand. It could be a song, a video, or the book I was currently reading — it didn’t matter which medium as long as it was art.
Escape. This is one of the top reasons I read novels. Immersing myself in a novel provides me with a temporary escape from the pressures and challenges of writing and of living life. It allows me to let my mind rest and recharge.
Learning from the masters. I have this habit where once I have watched a movie and know it like the back of my hand, I will watch it again. But this time, instead of focusing on what the camera wants me to see, I watch what’s going on around it. I’ll study the other actors’ reactions. I’ll try to figure out the different placements of the camera. I would pick one character other than the protagonist and focus on them for the whole movie. I’ll notice the subtle facial expressions which will speak without even moving the lips. This gears me up to try these subtle but important aspects of my writing.
Feeling less lonely. Art, of any form, brings people together. And being a writer can be a lonely job sometimes. Therefore, exploring other people’s art fosters a sense of connection and community. Recognising universal emotions and experiences in the work of others encourages a sense of empathy and understanding. It makes you realise that you are not alone and that there is more to life than you are currently experiencing.
Reconnecting with your passion. Many times, when I am creatively burning out, and that’s leading to burnout in my personal life as well, I notice it’s usually because I forgot why I was writing and living this life in the first place. I forgot my love for enjoying good storytelling. I got so busy working that I forgot to watch a good movie or curl up with a good book. Once I indulge in these activities, I start to feel whole again, which I am then able to pour into my writing.
Stimulating your imagination. This happens to me when I hear songs and instrumental music. Many times, while I am listening to a song, I’ll start seeing a scene play out in front of me. I would see a whole story that has the potential to be a short story, and it would get me all excited to run to my desk.
Rest and relaxation. It doesn’t look like it, but writing can be very exhausting. As a new writer, I knew it would be mentally tiring, but as the years have gone by, I know that the job of a writer can be physically and emotionally tiring as well. So when I feel burnt out, it often means that I’ve been pushing myself too hard, neglecting my well-being, or facing mental fatigue. Indulging in other people’s art lets me take a break and reminds me to have a balanced lifestyle to be able to stay a writer for life.
How To Indulge In Other People’s Art To Recover From Creative Burnout?
The answer to this can be found in the chapter called The Basic Tools in Julia Cameron’s book, The Artist’s Way.
This tool is called Artist Dates.
An Artist Date is a two-hour weekly fun, solo time set aside for indulging in your creative and curiosity trip. This date is important because, according to the author, our inner artist needs to be taken out, pampered and listened to. And this can only happen when we set aside time to chill with our artist self.
Now Julia Cameron suggests a weekly affair, but after facing creative and life burnout quite often now, I realised that once a week solo date isn’t cutting it for me.
To be honest with you, most of the time, I tend to forget about the artist date because I am too entangled in my work. It makes it hard for me to stop, leave and chill when I know I have an infinite scroll of tasks to handle. And anyway, by the time the weekend rolls in, I already have a weekend to-do list set for me of the things I couldn’t tackle during the week. So, I end up working (personal and professional errands) on the weekend as well. In short, I get no break.
And that is precisely why I need artist dates.
So, instead of waiting for the weekend to give myself permission to chill, I am now trying to incorporate mini-artist dates into my daily, weekly, and monthly life.
Here are a few of the things I have on my list of artist dates -
Going out on solo dates. Take yourself out on a coffee date. Add on a movie if one worth watching is playing at the cinemas. Wander around the bookstore. Buy yourself some flowers. Just spend some quality time with yourself.
Reading books. This is a big one. 2023 was, to be polite, not a reading year up to to my usual standard. This happened because life had other (emotional and mental) activities stored for me. In 2024, I want to make sure I read at least 36 books and read daily. To do so, I have tied the reading habit with my dinner time — once I am done with dinner, instead of randomly scrolling through the TV or phone, I am spending at least 30 minutes reading a book. Doing this is not only giving me a break and refilling my creative batteries, but it is also winding me down for bedtime. A win-win situation.
Watching new movies and shows. Though I love getting lost in a fictional world that is visually capturing as well, I am not an avid watcher. This means that months go by not watching some new movie or show that I was excited about. I’ll give myself some excuse for skipping this activity and continue to grind at my work. Very soon I’d start to feel my thoughts being stale. If I want to be my most creative self, I need to watch new movies and shows at least once a week that tickle my imagination.
Re-watching favourite movies and shows. While new movies and shows get my imagination excited, re-watching my favourite ones makes me feel safe. Whenever I feel lost or lonely or disheartened or stressed, I reach for my favourite movies and shows. The familiarity of them lets me know that all will be well in the end. That calms my nerves down enough to feel whole again and try again.
Watching other people make art. Watching someone else get lost and in the flow of creating their art is a mesmerising activity. Painting videos, woodwork videos, dog grooming videos, and even horse hoof restoration videos put me in a trance-like state, which leaves me energised for my art creation.
Observing Nature. It is actually the first place one should look for when looking for art. The trees, their leaves and fruits. The flowers. The sun and the clouds. The moon and the stars. How a bird builds its nest. How the eagle soars the sky without even, it seems like, moving a feather on its wings. Even following an ant carrying its food back home is fascinating to watch.
