Self-Care For Creatives

Those of you who follow me on social media may know that I had a hospital stay recently. Thankfully, I’m back home and about 95% back to normal now, but I figured it might be a good time to bring up the topic of self care. This can be a sore spot for creative folks, especially those like myself living with ADHD. It’s unbelievably easy to sit down at the computer, dissociate for nine hours, then come to, wondering why I’m thirsty and I have a headache. Alternatively, I might end up sitting doing nothing, while simultaneously feeling guilty for doing nothing. Here are a few things I like to do to make this outcome less likely.

Set Up A Routine – However You Have To Do It

Set alarms, use a planner, have someone hold you accountable, or write on your damn hand. Whatever it takes, set up a routine and stick to it, or you’ll never get anything done. I have a set block of time on the days that I write, and I don’t schedule anything else for that time – no video games, no reading, no work-related or social stuff. That’s my time to create, and the anticipation of it gets me in the headspace to start working. 

This block of time should be sacred, but it doesn’t have to be the same time every day, the same amount of time every day, or even a daily thing. It’s whatever you can manage. If your writing time is from noon until 2pm every Saturday, then that’s when it is. If it’s an hour after breakfast five days a week, so be it. You can also break the time up into “sprints” of 20 minutes or so, followed by some other activity like a small chore, getting a snack, or moving around to get some cardio. Just be consistent. 

Blocking out time for creating also means that before you start, you can check in with yourself to make sure your base needs are met – you’ll be a lot more productive if you’ve remembered to eat and drink, take your meds, exercise if you can, etc. 

Have A Reward System

Allow yourself breaks, both large and small, from creating. Taking a walk is a nice treat for me that lets me decompress from whatever else is going on in my day, yet gives me some space away from my WIP. I don’t let myself play video games until after my creativity time, because then it’s a reward for getting some work done, and I don’t have to feel guilty about it or like I’m wasting time. Your reward could be any number of things that makes you happy, that you can save for the time after you’ve gotten some creative stuff done and just want to turn your brain off. 

When I accomplish a particularly large creative goal, like finishing a draft or completing a round of edits, I’ll give myself an extended break from writing, as constantly having a WIP in the drafting phase makes you feel like you’re stuck on a treadmill after a while. The last thing you want to do with self-care in mind is make creativity feel like a job.

Don’t Force It

There’s a difference between buckling down and doing the thing, and destroying your mental health. The latter happens when you consistently force yourself to create, thereby turning something you should want to do into something you hate. 

Give yourself the occasional extended break when you reach a goal – for example, I just finished a draft of a book, and I don’t plan to start working on anything new until the beginning of June. If a health concern comes up (physical or mental) don’t force yourself to create in order to “get through it”. Address anything which might happen in your life that may require grieving, too. 

Finally, some creative folks who have had something traumatic happen in their lives think they’re obligated to incorporate that thing into their WIPs, or tell their story somehow. This is not the case. Unless you want to and think it will help you to process, you don’t have to create anything about your trauma, or try to monetize it in any way. There is a persistent and harmful stereotype out there that creative people have to “suffer for their art” – creating should always make you feel happy and accomplished, first and foremost. It should never be something you hate or feel obligated to do.  

What self-care tips do you like to use when you’re creating? Let me know in the comments!