Getting out of a creative slump?

I love to craft, and I know I feel better (mentally) when I craft. The calmness and feeling of accomplish something.
But the last two weeks have been so bad. First week I was stressed about vaccation, and one of my bosses quitting her job. Then I catched a cold (did the covid-19 test, and it was negative), and when I finally starting to feel better my period starts. :sweat_smile:

And here I am, doing nothing. I look at my craft projects and I wanna finish them, and start new ones. But it seems impossible to start again.

How do you do when you are getting out of a creative slump?

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Take a breather. I just went through this and I am trying to get myself out. I know I feel better mentally when I am creating, but being lazy and zoning out can feel so good in the moment.
I went back to the facility to work, my dad was in the hospital twice with strokes, and my cat passed away. For me, I invited a friend over to learn a new craft with me helped. We got needle felting kits and have been working on those once a week. Having time carved out and someone else doing it with me helped. If you can’t find anyone to do it with you, carve out the time! But before I did that, I gave myself two weeks to not stress out over it and help myself reset.
Crafting is supposed to be fun. Don’t turn it into a chore.

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When my problem is getting started actually doing the thing, I find it helps a lot to get all of the thinking work out of the way in a separate step. So, if I have two minutes of functional brain, I’ll gather the supplies together in a bag I can take with me somewhere, or pin a note to a mending project with exactly the steps I need to do for it, or set up the table space with the materials for the next part of whatever. Then I can go back to spacing out over something else, and next time I have a tiny bit of initiative the project is right there ready to start.

Good luck!

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I tidy.
I sort through supplies, organizing and folding, until I come across something that speaks to me…or my studio is completely tidy. That’s a win right there.

I also keep a notebook of ideas to leaf through, and a Pinterest account to browse. YouTube might have a new video, or somebody on Lettucecraft may have posted something inspirational.

Planning and researching are parts of the creative process, too; don’t sell them short.

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Aww rough weeks there!!!

Honesty, there’s no magic one thing I do. Sometimes I look around and find ideas, flip through pattern books, things I have book marked, on here which leads me down many rabbit holes then I have new hobbies LOL
Sometimes I clean and organize my stash that usually helps because I can never get the craft studio cleaned!
Maybe the awaiting projects just aren’t doing it for you. Could be the time involved, maybe you need more instant gratification if they are more time consuming projects (like knitting, quilting, etc) Don’t be afraid to put them aside and start something new and maybe small that can be done in a day or 2 to jump start the creativity again!

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I have found myself using a similar method as @thanate. I will also give myself a limit for doing a thing be it crafting or cleaning or writing thank you notes: I will work until this one step is done and?or for a certain amount of time. Often I find it’s easier to start when I build in a reasonable end time and then once I start it’s easier to keep going.

Example for a Cricut paper project:
I’ll just pick out all the papers or I will go for 20 mins.
Knowing I have an out makes it easier to start and once I start I usually find myself wanting to keep going after the step or time limit is done.

My zoning out is generally with staring-at-screens - movie or tv, so doing a project I can do at the same time works, too. Some kind of embroidery or similar type project.

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Slumps happen. I let them. I think they make me appreciate it more when I do have creative energy.

But I will say that craftalongs and swaps here on Lettuce Craft help me push through times when I feel less creative. :slight_smile:

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Creativity and creating are a form of giving of oneself, and when too much of oneself is going out as a result of life circumstances, there might not be enough self left over for creative work. For women in particular, there is the inherited belief that we’re always supposed to be doing, caring and giving, but that is unrealistic. Feminine energy is associated with creation/creativity, while masculine energy is associated with destruction, but that doesn’t mean we’re supposed to just embody one energy or the other. We’re all a fluctuating mix of both.

When the tank is running empty, the car can’t keep running for long. Going through a lot of hard stuff can be very depleting, especially if you’ve been helping others by pulling from your reserves.

Give yourself permission to refuel mentally, physically, spiritually, and emotionally, for as long as that takes. Overfill that tank if you can, so that giving and creating spill out of you effortlessly.

In the process, consider putting some time and energy into a) receiving good from others, and b) healthy, legal forms of destruction (sometimes it’s the first step to something new being created…and sometimes it’s just a good stress reliever). I can’t guarantee it will work like a reset button, but it might shake up the neural pathways enough for some new ideas and artsy-craftsy desires to shine through.

Slumps and upheavals in life may also point you toward a different form of creativity than you were previously practicing. It might not be the time for art and craft, and that’s okay, because there are endless other ways to be creative. Emphasis there is on be, since there is absolutely nothing creative you have to do.

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I love every word of this post, calluna. This rings so true for me! I want to print it out and display it somewhere as a reminder. :pray: :heart:

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Over the past few years I’ve gotten better at recognizing my patterns and there is a distinct increase and decrease to my crafting. Summer is just my “time off”, there’s so much fun stuff to do when the weather’s nice, I may have some inspiration here and there but productivity is low. I used to wonder what was going on with me and got a little panicky about losing my mojo but it always picks up when the weather turns cool and I feel like nesting again.
One thing that can block me any time though is mess and clutter so I’ve spend a good amount of time and thought on organizing and destashing. There are lots of people who find inspiration in an endless supply of treasures but that just isn’t me. The more I hoard, the more it weighs me down. I find too much choice nearly paralyzing, having to figure out how to make do is often an enormous part of the creative process for me. Sometimes saying “no” to myself is exactly the “yes” that I need.

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I think patterns are so true! I also find where I craft changes and affects my output of craftiness. If my craft space is not accessible, either too cluttered and unusable, or in a location that’s not super convenient for use, I am in there much less. Also, what I craft changes throughout the year. I go through times of wanting to spin everything in site then I may not want to spin for 6 months!

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calluna, your words remind me of the quote from the book “Women who run with the wolves” by Clarissa Pinkola Estes:

The psyches and souls of women also have their own cycles and seasons of doing and solitude, running and staying, being involved and being removed, questing and resting, creating and incubating, being of the world and returning to the soul-place.

Twice that sometimes all you need is to rest. There’s nothing wrong with slumps, Abbeeroad, you just need to wait a bit.

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Thank you for the reminder of that book: it was SO GOOD and I should find it again!

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