Notes on overthinking our creativity

Your summer permission slip

I don’t know what to write at the moment.

And maybe that’s okay.

I have so many ideas shouting ‘pick me, pick me’, and they’re all getting overbearingly loud.

I seem to be spending so much of what little precious creative time I currently have overthinking what to write. What a great use of my brain space when my baby naps (*nods sarcastically*).

There’s an ever-growing list of drafts on my Substack dashboard, and don’t even get me started on the endless phone notes I have full of ideas. Fragments of essays gathering dust, creative spark disappearing the moment I sit down to work on them.

All this got me thinking… are we putting too much pressure on ourselves when it comes to sharing our creative work?

I’ve been overthinking what to write that will resonate with others, overthinking that my words sound repetitive of late. I mean, I want to write things that resonate; who doesn’t? Isn’t that one of the reasons we write in the first place? To process and document our lives and share them with others in the hopes of having a relatable experience with even one person on this floating rock we call Earth.

Perhaps, we need to press pause over the summer, as we did in school. Not pausing our creativity, but not rushing to share everything with the world right away. To nourish ourselves gently. Let our ideas stir and bloom. Feel the sun on our faces and water our creativity daily. To tend to it and keep it to ourselves for a little, like a sweet secret. To explore outside and play a while as the nights grow longer and the sunlight lingers, before we race, excitedly, to regale our friends with our summer adventures. Ready and refreshed once more for the turning of the leaves.

I wonder if you have felt it, too? Boundless inspiration, paired with the desire to create, but stumped when faced with the dreaded blank page.

It appears I felt the same way only last year.

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My heart longs to write weekly love letters as though it’s my very own magazine column or my full-time job, and maybe I need to go back to the drawing board when it comes to what I want this little corner of the internet to look like going forward.

Maybe I need a little helping hand from you as part of my inner circle on what you love to read here. I’d love to know what brought you to this soft space and why you come back each week.

I guess what I’m saying is it’s okay to pause now and again, especially when it comes to our creative passions. Overthinking and creativity go hand in hand. We so rarely create something and share it immediately. There are always edits to be done or another brushstroke to add, so it’s only natural that we mull ideas over in our minds. But mulling them over so much that they become a source of stagnation does not a happy creative make.

Overthinking to the point where our creativity becomes painful, almost, is only going to scare it away even more.

So, taking a slight step back occasionally will only give our minds the time needed to refuel. To look at the world in such a light that our creativity pours from our souls with ease.

If you need the gentle nudge to take a breather with whatever it is that you’re overthinking, then let this officially be your permission slip.

I’ll be posting occasionally over the coming weeks when it feels right to, but I guess school’s out for summer.

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