Creative burnout has a sneaky way of showing up when you least expect it. It doesn’t arrive with flashing lights. It slips in quietly. One skipped creative session turns into weeks. Then months. Suddenly, something that once felt like home feels distant.

That’s what happened to me and music.

Music was my first language. Long before watercolor, business, deadlines, launches and metrics. Yet creative burnout slowly pushed it aside, and I didn’t even realize how far it had drifted until I stopped and really looked.

This is the story of how artistic burnout showed up in my life, how artist burnout shaped my choices, and what finally helped me feel creative again.

When Art and Business Took Over

I never planned to become a small business owner. I just loved making art. Then people started paying attention. Opportunities grew. My art career took off. And before I knew it, art became work.

This is where creative burnout often begins.

I was creating constantly, but not always from joy. I was producing. Managing. Teaching. Launching. Showing up. Over time, artistic burnout crept in because creativity was tied to responsibility. If I wasn’t careful, my creative time turned into obligation.

Music quietly stepped back during this season. It didn’t disappear overnight. It just stopped being a priority. I told myself I would come back to it later. Later kept moving.

This is one of the hardest parts of artist burnout. You can still be productive while feeling disconnected. You can still succeed while slowly losing touch with the parts of yourself that once felt alive.

Burnout doesn’t always mean you stop working. Sometimes it means you stop listening to yourself. Learning how to deal with creative burnout as a business owner changed how I view rest, priorities, and success.

I wrote more about this season and how I learned to navigate burnout as a business owner here.

The Wake Up Call

The wake up call didn’t come as a breakdown. It came as a quiet realization.

Rest didn’t touch the tiredness. Joy felt far away. I kept creating, yet struggling to feel creative. That kind of numbness is a clear sign of creative burnout.

You stop feeling excited. You stop dreaming. And you start asking yourself why you even began.

That moment forced me to pause and take an honest look at how I was living and creating. I realized I was pouring everything into output and leaving nothing for myself. There was no space to play. No room to explore. No margin to be human.

Burnout rarely shows up overnight. It builds slowly through ignored signals and unmet needs. Learning how to deal with creative burnout starts with noticing when your joy begins to fade.

Avoiding burnout requires awareness before it becomes overwhelming. I shared more about recognizing these signs and stepping in early here.

The Studio Session: A Gift to My Inner Child

This was not a career move. It was not a strategy. It was a gift.

I booked studio time to record a song I had been holding inside me for decades. I did it during one of the busiest seasons of my life. Moving plans. Paperwork. Chaos. Yet I showed up anyway.

Music has always been my first form of expression. Piano. Singing. Songwriting. It shaped my childhood. Art came later and surprised me. Music never left. It just waited.

Recording that song was not about monetization. It was about answering my inner child who had been asking for space to exist again. It was about healing creative burnout by returning to something that asked nothing of me.

I recorded piano and vocals at Velvet Honey Studios in Los Angeles with Trevor. The song explored transition and transformation. A caterpillar becoming a butterfly. The uncomfortable middle. The waiting. The becoming.

That studio session reminded me how to regain creativity. Not by pushing harder. Not by doing more. But by returning to what made me feel alive before productivity entered the picture.

Creative burnout often disconnects us from our inner child. Reconnecting with her changed everything for me.

Creative Identity: You Don’t Have to Choose

One of the biggest lies creative burnout tells us is that we must choose one path. One identity. One lane.

I believed that lie for a long time.

I thought if I leaned into art, music had to stay quiet. If I built a business, personal creativity had to wait. That belief fueled artistic burnout because it forced parts of me into hiding.

The truth is simple. You do not have to choose.

You can be many things. I promise, you can love multiple creative outlets. You can let them coexist. Creativity is not a competition.

My painting practice taught me this again and again. Growth comes from curiosity, not pressure. Play fuels progress. Exploration keeps burnout at bay.

I reflected on these lessons and how they shaped my creative life here.

Your creativity doesn’t need a single label. Letting yourself explore without rules is one of the most powerful ways to heal creative burnout and reconnect with joy.

Slowing Down to Reconnect

Speed feeds burnout. Stillness heals it.

I realized how much noise was pulling me away from myself. Constant input. Constant comparison. And constant pressure to perform. That environment makes it almost impossible to feel creative.

Slowing down became a form of self respect. I reclaimed quiet time. I brought a piano back into my home after fourteen years and I played every day, even for a few minutes. No goals. No deadlines. Just presence.

Creative burnout thrives in constant noise. Slowing down creates space to listen, reflect, and remember why you started creating in the first place. 

Stepping away from social media was part of this shift. Less noise allowed more clarity. More space allowed more creativity. If you are craving more quiet, clarity, and space to reconnect with yourself, I share exactly why I made that choice and what it changed for me here.

A Gentle Way Back Into Creative Flow

If you’re nodding along to this and wondering where to even begin, I want to offer you something simple and supportive.

Sometimes the hardest part of creative burnout isn’t creating. It’s knowing how to re-enter without overwhelming yourself. You don’t need a massive plan or a sudden burst of motivation. You need a soft reset.

That’s exactly why I created my Creativity Playbook. It’s a flexible toolkit for artists you can return to whenever you need clarity, momentum, or a reminder of what actually inspires you. Inside, you’ll find prompts, exercises, and reflection pages that help turn ideas into action without pressure or perfection getting in the way.

And if you’re not ready to commit to anything yet, that’s okay too. I also created a free Quiz to Get Your Flow Back for those moments when you feel stuck but can’t quite name why. It helps you understand what might be blocking your creativity right now and points you toward the kind of support that fits your current season.

You don’t have to force your way out of creative burnout. Sometimes all it takes is a little guidance, a little structure, and permission to start small.

What Creative Burnout Taught Me

Creative burnout is not failure. It’s information.

It tells you something is misaligned, asks for attention and invites change.

Artist burnout taught me to honor my energy and showed me the cost of ignoring joy. Learning how to deal with creative burnout reshaped how I create, work, and rest.

If you are struggling to feel creative, know this. You’re not broken. You are tired. You may simply need permission to play again.

Creative burnout doesn’t mean your creativity is gone. It means it’s asking for care.

And sometimes, all it takes is one brave step back toward the things you love (even if it feels awkward at first).