I've taken LOTS of courses on fostering creativity and crafting a "creative lifestyle" (whatever that means) and NOT ONE OF THEM has ever actually created lasting change in my creative practice.

Books and programs that focus on practicing creativity, rather than freeing it, don't make for sustainable change.

I won't argue that creativity isn't a skill or muscle that benefits from regular use, but the reason we feel blocks around creativity usually isn't because we've been mental couch potatoes and are out of shape creatively. Like, mindlessness might have us feeling groggy and disconnected from creativity at times, but it doesn't automatically make for a BLOCK that leaves us discouraged and stuck.

Case and point: Those blocks happen even when we're creating on the regular 🤔

When creativity gets blocked, it's usually because something else is getting in the way. You're feeling burned out from the day job (or, if you work in creative industries, the "job" part of the day job: networking, admin, invoicing); or maybe family life has you emotionally drained; maybe you're just riding along through the global rise of fascism and it has your nervous system constantly activated because, holy shit why shouldn't it be, rn??

Here's the sticky truths that most creative coaching advice fails to account for:

=> Your creativity is unavailable when you're in shame spirals around money, employment, or success. Shame is ego-centering. It gets us stuck on how to fix ourselves to be more accepted by other people. There's no risk-taking or going against the grain when shame is in the mix, just desperate stabs at short-term relief or avoidance.

=> You're walling off your creative self if you're masking neurodivergence, ADHD, autism, burnout, or migraines. Masking is one GIANT drain on our cognitive energy. More than that, it's literally avoidance around our most authentic (read: uniquely creative) selves.

=> Creativity is unreliable when you're cycling in fight, flight, fawn or freeze. Nervous system is activation (fight/flight/freeze/fawn mode) is a wholly separate system in our physiology from rest, digest, and recovery—and if one is on, the other is off. Guess which one creativity requires?

=> Your creative juices are on hiatus whenever you're caught up in external expectations of who you "should" be or what your life "should" look like. You can't use your intuition to guide your work if you're trying to guess at what's maybe going to get you external validation (cc your inner critic).

Creativity isn't just some vanity trait that helps us make cool work—
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Creativity is healing. Embracing creativity allows us to tap into authenticity and safety. It grounds us. It connects us. It nourishes us! It's really that important to humanity.

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BUT there's something funny that happens where, like, because creativity is so healing when it's near to us, we start treating it as a panacea for all the abuses this world throws at us.

We're all, as long as I have creativity, it's ok if I'm struggling in literally every other aspect of my life.

Our focus becomes getting more creativity like some sort of elusive antidote we don't know where to procure or how to even keep it in stock. But if we can get that pill then, phew, what relief! Because that'd mean nothing else in our lives really has to change.

We neglect the ways that we're running on empty and instead keep hoping that creativity will come to us and offer that healing experience it once did in the past. We think, if I can just summon up enough creativity, I'll feel ok again.

After spelling it out like this, I'm sure I don't need to tell you that this is not a reliable or healthy system.

Instead we need to be looking to what make creativity available in our brains in the first place, so we can start drawing from a well that's fuller and fuller with each passing season.

✨ That's why my coaching centers on nervous system regulation.

🤑 That's why I've trained in money trauma and neuroplasticity.

🧠 That's why I run workshops on stuff like migraine management and working less.

💜 That's why I want you to build an "undisciplined" practice that invites you in, instead of pushing yourself harder.

Because finding ease and healing in these areas brings neurobiological benefits that result in you having access to more and more creativity in your practice, business, and life. Which ALSO brings neurobiological benefits in a big, sexy, positive feedback loop that, honest to god, could truly change the world if we committed to leaning into it.

Come see what I mean. Join me at a FREE playdate on Unblocking Creativity on Fri. March 6th!

I'll show you where your creative energy is being diverted AND give you ways to reroute that energy back into your studio practice or business.

This dumpster fire of a society needs your work now more than ever. So be there. 💜

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​Love + solidarity,

Sam