i’m filing for emotional bankruptcy

And here’s how I’m dealing with it.

Life can inspire our creativity just as much as it can drain it from us.

And beginners feel this the most.

Every day we have to manage a failed project, a post that didn’t land the way we thought, or being ignored by a potential mentor.

We try to build ourselves back up from each setback, but eventually, it gets harder and harder to rebuild.

That’s emotional bankruptcy.

It’s hitting a wall.

The creative spark starts fading.

You feel like you have nothing left to give.

I understand this too well.

A lot of creatives go through this drought.

It’s a scary place to be as a creative, but it’s not irreversible.

And, like real bankruptcy, reaching emotional bankruptcy is the first step to a clean slate.

It can show us what we need to address to move forward.

Thankfully, I’ve never actually filed for real bankruptcy lol…

Emotional bankruptcy doesn’t come from nowhere. It’s traced back to actions many new creatives fall victim to.

Once we identify them, we can start combatting them and get back the joy of creation.

So here are signs that you may be suffering from emotional bankruptcy and how to start with a clean slate.

#1 - Spreading yourself too thin

If you’re like me and new to your creative practice, you may think quantity will help you improve so you make yourself fully available to everyone in hopes that something will pop off.

But that’s the complete opposite of what you should be doing.

Stop treating your work like a franchise.

We are beginners.

Babies, even.

Yes, we need a little pressure to create better, but that doesn’t mean jumping straight into the deep end.

Doing so only leaves you with too little energy to do your best on a project and gain any sort of knowledge or experience from it.

Don’t listen to anyone telling you to take whatever comes to you. That road only leads to burnout.

Your favorite creatives focus on 1-3 projects at a time because they know that any more would risk their creative output.

Be ruthless with how you choose your projects.

They should be challenging but realistic.

Creatively stimulating but outside of your comfort zone.

This way you can let out that creative energy without giving too much away.

#2 - Trying to control everything

This may only speak to Type A people, but you have to loosen your grip on the wheel if you want to steer straight.

Controlling behavior normally shows up when trying to create a routine.

Too many of us have fallen for the illusion that we need to control every part of our day to squeeze as much creative juice out of ourselves as we can.

• “I have to wake up at this time.”

• “I have to do this thing at a specific time.”

Although routine can help creatives find a flow with their practice, taking it to the extreme will leave to emotionally drained.

Because let’s face it, life often doesn’t give a sh*t about your routines.

Your grandma will call right when you're about to start work.

You’ll wake up ill and unable to go to the gym.

Something unexpected can and will always happen,

Every creative should learn how to flow with the mundane chaos of life.

Yes, their boundaries you can set. And you can still be disciplined. But learn to accept it when things don’t go off script.

#3 - Excessive mental masturbation

No, you won’t go blind doing it, but it’ll certianly leave you feeling shame lol.

For creatives, emotional bankruptcy is like a new virus.

We’re all afraid of it, unsure how we get it, and willing to do anything to avoid or combat it.

We want to feel that rush of creativity again, so what do we do?

We run to what we think is the vaccine → Inspiration.

And where do we get inspiration in the modern age?

Content, of course.

Cue hours upon hours of consuming content, thinking if we consume enough we’ll get a spark.

But, 99.9% of the time, end up even more drained and with even less time to get inspired to create.

Yes, there are so many great ideas out there, binging content and mainlining ideas into your system isn’t good for your creativity.

You’re more likely to get ideas and feel creative when you turn things off and simply let your brain breathe.

the good news

As creatives, we’ll do anything to protect our creativity.

It’s what makes us who we are, and when something so important is at risk, we can easily panic and make things worse.

The best thing we can do for our creativity is to treat it like a plant.

Leaves may fall.

Roots may die.

But as long as we pay attention, understand the source of the issue, and address it with a sound mind…

…we can come back from anything.

Till next time xx

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