I am taking a break from my usual format this week to talk about one of my favorite ways to remain in the creative process, even when I’m tired, sick, sad, or busy. I didn’t invent this terminology or technique: I learned about it when I was diagnosed with ADHD (at AGE 40, WOULD HAVE BEEN NICE TO KNOW MUCH EARLIER BUT I DIGRESS).
I’ve read many self-help books. They’re a sick sort of vice for me because I am always looking for reasons to feel bad about myself, I enjoy the delusion that simplified, one-size-fits-all-advice is going to work for me. Most self-help books are regurgitations of the same basic ideas: positive thinking, incremental habit change, and consistency, re-packaged repeatedly, and re-labeled as “atomic” or “radical” or any other adjective that sounds like it could be used to describe how my morning routine should allegedly function, as well as my stomach after eating Taco Bell.
I spent a long time thinking that if I found the right book with the right tips and tricks to implement, I could hack my way to ultimate creative productivity. Every book would bring the same cycle: I’d feel certain that this book or system would be “the one” and I’d start with fervor and last anywhere from a few days to a few weeks before realizing that it didn’t fit, failing, and then beating myself up for not being able to “stick to something.” I would feel terrible about myself when I couldn’t, I’d find another book or buy another paper planner with a new system, take another class, and then repeat the cycle.
These books appear to be designed for folks whose lives never have complications and who never experience dips in energy, time, or endurance. I appreciate the idea of self-discipline, and am a fairly disciplined person myself, but every day looks different. Teaching is a job that can zap my energy, and ADHD means that I don’t always have consistent daily stamina to do things exactly the same way. Sometimes, I really need more sleep, or I get up to write and I am not able to produce the way I hope to.
I also recently diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome, something I’m still processing and adjusting to (and may eventually share more about). I also learned about the idea of Low/Medium/High Energy routines for people with ADHD, and how the idea of “pacing” is really key for folks who have any sort of neurodivergence. I’ve mostly seen it applied to things like housework or socializing, and I’ve created my own guidelines around those things, but I think it applies to creativity, too.
While I don’t think that you have to write or create every single day, one of my most vital personal philosophies is to touch the work every day, or to “not let the paint dry.” What I mean by that is that even if I don’t add to my word count or make significant edits every single day, I do something related to my writing daily. I think it applies no matter what your thing is. This is where my High/Medium/Low Energy routines come in.
Not all of the things listed with each example are done on the same day, but these are examples of activities I might engage in when I’m feeling that way.
Here are my personal examples of things I might accomplish:
High Energy: Be at my desk with coffee no later than 5:15 AM and complete morning pages before working on current projects for at least an hour, read or research and take notes, do a second writing or editing session at night, finish a project, submit work or applications, go to a coffee shop and engage in deep work for several hours.
Medium Energy: Sleep in until 5:30 or 5:45 AM and get up to do Morning Pages or work on a project for a bit, edit something I wrote the day before, read a small part of work out loud and make line edits, read a few pages and attempt to take notes, listen to a podcast with a favorite writer, read a craft article or two, pick a prompt (or a few) and write in five-minute sprints to get new ideas started, cook or bake something for a sense of more instant gratification, talk about writing with a writing friend, outline something I’m thinking about writing, move pieces around in a project I’m finishing, work for 15 minute sprints and quit whenever I’m done.
Low Energy: Sleep in until I have to get ready for work, make small notes throughout the day that come to mind when thinking about what I’m working on, do a mini-morning pages at any time (write one page at minimum), do a creativity meditation, watch something that inspires me (or comforts me), take a bath and read a book for pleasure…
…absolutely nothing and trust that the work will still be there the next day.
How do you manage your creative practices when you’re not feeling your best?
I love this post! I appreciate how you've set up creative routines for yourself based on your energy levels... and how you ended with the grace to also not do *any* of these "productive" things. It's also a perfect "Decide Once" but in/as a trifecta, which allows room for you to be human. I am currently working on a post about "inconsistent performance" and if it's okay with you, I'd love to link to your post!
I've been under a lot of stress for the past four months and my father just died three weeks ago and I have zero energy and zero creativity at the moment. I don't feel like writing a single damn thing and then that feeling sends me in a mini-panic that I'll never be creative again. I'm trying to be very gentle with myself and not stress about the fact that I can't write right now. My brain is in recovery mode, so I'm just trying to rest and to read things that inspire me and that I enjoy. I've been slowly reading and savoring Ross Gay's The Book of (More) Delights and there will almost always be something in one of his essays that makes me want to write something down, so I hold on to that little spark.
But all that up there ^^ is just what I've been feeling for the last few years writ large. I go through low points and surges in creativity and I find that trying to force anything when I'm in a low spot just makes me feel panicked, so I just wait until something comes. It always does.