As a professional Illustrator, what you do all day is drawing. You wake up in the morning and draw. Right before you go to bed, you draw. You draw all day until your hand and wrist get soar, but there’s nothing so much you can do about it. Taking breaks and keeping a routine are important. But I realized keeping a work-life balance is hard, and it gets even harder when you try to keep it.
There are many reasons. The amount of work you must complete in a day is sometimes much more than 8 hours. Daily tasks vary, so you often must sacrifice your morning or evening routines. There were many moments when I had to cancel my weekend plans with my precious people because of the deadlines or the overwhelming workload, which already exhausted all my energy to laugh and chat.
So, work-life balance is not so much I’m planning or expecting. I started to focus on taking mini breaks whenever possible to stay healthy. However, what really stresses me out is when creative blocks hit me when it’s least expected. After I made my time to focus solely on my work, and made sure I took enough rest beforehand, this unwelcomed guest chimes in.
I stare at my blank paper, not knowing what to do. I don’t know what to draw. I thought I knew, but I suddenly didn’t remember what I love to draw. This strange fear eats me up and stops me from starting on a new drawing. Regardless, my excitement is still there—the excitement to create something so wonderful and so myself! When this symptom lasts for a few days, I burst into tears from frustration.
Luckily, I have my partner and fellow creative friends to talk things out. They understand completely how annoying but inevitable creative blocks are and how painful it feels to endure these moments. We often come to the conclusion that there must be something inside our mind that stops us. It could be fear, anxiety, concerns — it could be anything. Creative blocks had to be treated as a signal to take a close look at our minds.
It was time for me to face what was happening to me. Then I looked around my apartment and noticed my messy room, empty fridge, and a pile of laundry. My constant migraine and sleepless nights gave me another hint. Oh my. I had to clean up my mess literally and figuratively. There were big, tangled stress balls inside me that I had to release.
I’ve tried a few simple, easy things to lessen the burden off my mind. I wished for the creative block to be gone after all.
1. Clean up!
Where I live reflects a lot about my mental state, whether I was busy or too stressed to take care of myself and my room. A cluttered mind creates a cluttered room. It’s time to clean up.
2. Take a walk (without music or podcasts)
Sometimes it feels like overthinking is caused by the long solitude. Take a walk outside, and let yourself get distracted by the outside world. It’s a good reminder that you’re still part of it. Get some air, walk on a bumpy road, watch out for the cars, and listen to the sound of movements. It’s great.
3. Doodle on a cheap sketchbook
Especially if you are a person who is worried about making a mess and wasting your high-quality paper, start sketching on cheap paper. Sometimes my best sketches come out on paper napkins or receipts. There are times when the pressure you give yourself stops you from freely letting the ideas out. I think it’s often the pressure coming from ✨super expensive high-quality professional artist sketchbook✨.
Put that anxiety aside and doodle casually until you find a thumbnail that excites you to transfer onto a better surface.
4. Dream about your ideal future
My dream is to become a happy artist with a large, sunshiny space for myself. When things get tough, and I don’t want to do anything, I daydream about my future studio and get excited to work again. Be careful not to compare yourself with your current self who doesn’t have that yet and get upset by it — in the future, you will get everything you want!
5. Just feel the sadness until it goes away
Don’t do anything. Even if you try all four things mentioned above, it’s possible to not feel any better. Perhaps you wouldn’t even want to try at all. Trying to try things requires energy, and sometimes you just don’t even have that — and that’s totally fine. Forcing yourself to stand up immediately to solve things can bring more madness.
It’s like catching a cold. You can do nothing else other than sleep, eat, take a warm shower, and wait until you feel better. Just feel all the emotion until it’s gone. This too shall pass. It will be gone soon.
Creative blocks happen to everybody. It’s okay! I tell myself that it’s okay too.
You are passionate, and you sincerely want whatever you work on to turn out nicely. But making things perfect every time in a row won’t happen so easily. It’s okay to take things slow and trust the process. In that moment of panic, it’s tough to think straight, I know. But you’ll soon find the moment to calm down and look around.
Let's release the pressure of making something cool always and immediately - take a walk, clean your room, and refresh your mind. You’ll get excited to create again soon. :-)
Good luck!
Sincerely,
Cindy