Get over yourself
when going easy on ourselves fails us.
I must confess: I’ve been hoarding my ideas. Greedily stockpiling bolts of insight, letting them ferment in my notes app while I busy myself with the day-to-day of life.
This is the first sign that I’m taking myself too seriously. The more I amass a pile of shiny, unused bits and bobs, the more I convince myself this is all I have left.
I’ve learned time and again that clinging to your creative ideas does not ensure that the final product turns out perfectly. The longer the idea remains purely in your mind’s eye, the more it crystalizes into a rigid, perfect thing—certain failure.
The best way to keep from freezing up? When you’re outside suffering in winter’s icy depths, you jog in place or rub your hands together to ward off the cold.
Your creativity is the same. You must keep things warm and loose. Bring your ideas out of your brain and into the world, over and over again. Play, experiment. Throw things out into the ether before you feel ready.
Because who wins when your best ideas stay locked away?
It’s hot to go after what you want. It’s sexy when you fail, as all storytellers know. That’s what the protagonist alway does before they get to where they’re meant to be.
Usually when you say you’re creatively blocked, what you really mean is that you feel incapable of making movement on your ideas, not that you have an utter lack of ideas.
You're stuck because you've convinced yourself that doing nothing is safer than doing it imperfectly. As long as it stays in your head, it can still be perfect—but the moment you bring it to life, that illusion fades.
Sometimes we pour our best efforts into thankless work while our creative dreams wither and die.
We all work too hard, then have to numb ourselves out in order to get up and do it all again the next week. While we’re on the hamster wheel sweating over our day jobs and our relationships, our creative projects sit, unblinking, waiting on the sidelines.
What would happen if you prioritized the things that bring you most joy, even if it meant saying no to social plans or needless late-night emails from your coworker? What would happen if you forced yourself to sit and engage with a project, rather than calling it a block and running away after five minutes of staring at your hands?
The first brushstroke enters like a blessing.
You’re doing it!
And you didn’t have to wait for the muses on high to grant you permission.
You just needed to tell yourself that the creative projects you care about are worth the time and energy it takes to bring them into existence.
Even when they’re not perfect—because they never will be, anyway.
Consider this an invitation to get less serious about everything else in your life and more serious about your creative work. Even for just a day…
May you give yourself permission to create before you feel ready, trusting that imperfection is part of the magic.
May you make time for what matters most to your creative heart, even when the world demands otherwise.
May you celebrate every imperfect creation as a bold step toward a life more aligned with your creative spirit.
Wanna hear about one of those ideas I’ve been clinging to? It’s a workshop I’ve been cooking up…
—GET UNSTUCK: Transforming Creative Block into Flow—
For folks ready to transmute inertia into creative momentum.
You can sign up for the waitlist here. I’ll be sharing more info in the coming weeks and you’ll hear it there first :)
Programming update: Creative Input & Output are now Honey’s Toolbox. (I got tired of trying to delineate the two—I can’t tell you how long I considered things like: is stargazing input or output? You’re taking something in, but you also have to get out there to do it...) Creativity is all gray area, anyway. So you’ll now get a weekly toolbox of all sorts of ideas to refill your cup and put creative living into action, all in one list!
1. How to start (and keep) a dream journal
is a juicy little guide by Charmaine Li, the founder of an experimental dream research platform called ONEIRIC.SPACE, for the Creative Independent.
If you’ve ever wondered how your subconscious could spark new ideas or reveal hidden patterns, this guide is an inspiring reminder to pay attention to the stories your mind weaves while you sleep and practice using them as fuel for your creative work.
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2. Make a kitchen staple from scratch
and watch your kitchen confidence fucking skyrocket. I’ve been making my own granola (for years) and yogurt (for the first time ever) and I’ve decided I’m basically a homesteader now.
Do you know how easy it is to make yogurt? You put a half gallon of milk and a scoop of existing yogurt into an Instant Pot and press a button. That’s it. And if you choose to strain it after it ferments for 8 hours, you can get the most deliciously rich, creamy Greek yogurt without the fierce tang that comes from the big grocery store brands.
Consider the staples you eat regularly and figure out which ones you can make yourself. Some places to start: bread, butter, jam, nut butters, pasta, tomato sauces, hummus, mayo, bone broth, pickled vegetables, cottage cheese, vinegar—the list goes on.
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3. Read a book fit for your moon sign
as recommended by
in this Substack note. Jeanna writes an incredible newsletter called , and a few weeks ago she offered to recommend books based on commenters’ moon signs.She’s closed answers for now, but you can still scroll through to find a rec for whatever your moon sign is! She turned me onto Willa Cather’s classic My Ántonia (hiiii yes, Cancer moon here) and it has been one of my favorite reads of the year so far.
***
4. Put your feet above your head
for the world’s cheapest and quickest energy boost. I injured my ankle while getting tackled for the first time in my life at rugby practice last week (natural athlete) and have had to R(est) I(ce) C(ompress) E(levate) it up over here as of late.
It reminded me that putting your feet above your heart isn’t just great for sprained ankles, it also feels great in general. I did a little digging: turns out it can boost energy levels by promoting oxygen-rich blood to reach your vital organs more efficiently. You have no excuse not to try this one—toss those dogs up above your heart and see what the fuss is about.
That’s all for now.
Talk soon,
Katie
P.S. Scroll right through to the bottom? Don’t miss the chance to sign up for the waitlist for my next workshop, GET UNSTUCK: Transforming Creative Block into Flow. I’ll be sharing more info in the coming weeks and you’ll hear it there first :)
I needed to hear this today, so thank you! I was just thinking about how I’ve been taking myself too seriously. Be warm and loose. Noted🫡