Restart Creativity – How to get back after a Break

My best advice for becoming a creative person is always to do something creative, as often as you can. Start small and build on that. This is true whether you are a crafter, artist, writer, blogger, scrapbooker, youtuber, photographer, knitter, or you’re like me, dabbling in a bit of everything. Personally I believe this is easiest if you can aim to do that “something” every day, because that builds momentum and you don’t have those breaks from your daily routine. But of course that is hard, and even us hardcore Creatives that thrive through making stuff, are sometimes forced to stop or take a break. We get sick, or something happens to our families, or life changes in a way that we need to reassess everything.

No matter how good your original plan was, life happens to all of us all the time – and this will throw a routine or creative habit out quicker than we think. Especially if we can’t get back to our desk at all, then we loose our momentum and it might become harder to get back. Too hard sometimes.

And time passes, and the more time that passes the harder it is to “get back into it”. At least that is true for me. It is really hard!

Taking a break from your creative life, by outside force or voluntarily because you need to concentrate your energy on something else (like your mental health or family, for example) is really hard. Especially when creating, filling notebooks or having a project, also gives you so much energy and is a way of life. But it will happen to all of us, many times during our life. So how can we find our way back? How can we restart our creativity and find flow again?

We are all different, and for some this might not even be a big hurdle. Maybe you just start again, and don’t overthink it… For others (like me) we build it up to something impossible (in our mind), which makes coming back to creativity even harder. You might start doubting yourself or your projects – what is the point of it? Why am I even doing all of this? Nobody cares anyway. But of course, you care. It is meant for you and you are important.

You are doing it for yourself, for the moments of joy and bliss that creating gives, right?

I am an Expert on how to Restart Creativity

I write this to encourage myself to come back to blogging after a slow year last year, and then weeks of nothing. First it was the holidays, then family health issues and then in January I had a horrible case of the flue that did not want to go away. And after that… all these doubts and thoughts and feelings came blowing at me full force.

But I might be a bit of an Expert on “restarting”, which is true because 1) I stop or paus myself all the time and 2) I am very, very stubborn and I don’t like to give up (hence this is my 20th year of blogging and I am back at it today). Sometimes I come back to projects I don’t even want to finish, just to be able to say I did them – also so that I can archive/blog it and put it away for good. I am still struggling with balance, and I think I might continue to do so my entire life, and that is okay. So these ideas are as much for myself as they are for you, and if you have other tips on how to get back after a long break, let me know in the comments!

Look through your Stash

Sometimes I sit and think about what to do way, way too long. I try to “come up” with a great, genius idea to start with, and this leads to doubts, rumination and fear of not being good enough (even if it’s on a personal project that no one else needs to see or know about). Or I think of all the projects I have started and not yet finished, and it becomes a pipeline of where the heck should I start on this gigant mountain of things I want to do? Instead, we should just dive into our stash and have a look, without expectations please. Touch your stuff and play with your materials, sort through yarn or piles of paper. Even cleaning the studio or finding items to donate is within this category of getting started, doing something, because when we look and feel our materials inspiration will come! And the best part is, if you’re inspired by your own materials or tools, you have them all ready and there is no need to order something new to get started. This is a small first step toward your creativity. Another one is “starting small”.

Start with something Small

Maybe this idea is not that helpful to you, because the problem is starting (I know, I understand) and that will always be hard and when it feels impossible that is just the truth. Maybe everything feels impossible. So saying “just do it” or “start small” might feel like a stupid advice, and feel free to disregard it if that’s where you’re at. But it could be helpful if you’re an over-thinker like me, and the project(s) that you want to do and finish are too big, or the steps before you start are too many, or the more you think about them the bigger the overwhelm becomes… Then again, stop thinking and start with something else, and start small.

If you’re a painter and the big canvas oil painting in your mind feels like too much, maybe a cute little doodle book is the solution for you (or loose paper if a notebook also feels like pressure). I love those and filling a page is doable, even when there is almost no energy or inspiration. If you’re a textile artist (or feel like trying it out), dive into my workshop Stitch with Heart (perfect to start on this week) that starts with a small idea of creating a heart, just for fun. Find a small notebook or idea, and fill a page a day with a collage, a quote or some paint color. This might not sound like something you want to do, but the act of doing will build up your creative muscles and in a bit you might even find your mojo again. I hope so.

What are your best advice or tips for getting going after a break?

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I have been doing a little collage in a traveler’s notebook for a while, and this week I will be sharing a video every day on youtube – so make sure you are subscribed to get a daily dose of inspiration from me – with love from Sweden.

Wishing you a Sweet & Happy Valentine Week!

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