Burning Bright Without Burning Out: A Summer Guide to Sustaining Your Creative Energy

How to Honour Your Energy Levels and Build a Sustainable Creative Rhythm

As we move into the height of summer, everything around us is bursting with life - but that doesn’t always mean we are. The longer days might bring more opportunities, more ideas, more pressure… and sometimes, more exhaustion.

One of the most powerful lessons I’ve learned - and continue to practice - is that creative energy is not a constant. It ebbs and flows like the tides, or waxes and wanes like the moon, changing and morphing like the seasons. Some days we are full of fire and inspiration. Other days, we are slow, quiet, uncertain. And that’s okay - in fact, it’s necessary.

I've talked about this many times but we live in a culture that celebrates output and productivity. But creativity is cyclical, not linear. When we push through tiredness or ignore our body’s signals, we risk burnout. So what would it look like to honour your natural rhythm?

Ask yourself these questions:

• When am I most alert or inspired - morning or evening?

• Do certain times of the month bring dips or bursts in my energy?

• Can I recognise my own “creative seasons” - times of blooming, gathering, resting?

  
  

Instead of waiting for a perfect window of time or ideal energy level, I try to work in small, consistent ways. A short session in the studio. A walk with a sketchbook. Five minutes of free-writing. These micro-moments add up and honour what’s possible, not what’s perfect. Sometimes I might not even do anything in my studio at all, but I might read a book or bake some bread instead. I honour my creativity every day, I just might not create art every day.

And the more I tune into my creative flow I know that I'm more creative in the evening so if I am planning to be in the studio, I build my day around the fact and give myself grace if creativity isn't flowing in the morning. And I do something else instead.

What Helps Me Stay Connected:

• Journaling really helps me to check in with myself

• Checking in with my online community keeps things real

• Self-compassion helps me to be kinder to myself

• Keeping my monthly planner realistic and not overfilling it

• Giving myself permission to pause, guilt-free (although this is easier said than done some days!!

  
  

A gentle invitation to you

I know it's summer, but that doesn't mean we have to be ON, ON ,ON. Creative cycles don't necessarily mirror the actual season we are living in but instead teach us about the importance and relevance of the cyclical nature of creativity.

What if you softened your expectations this season? What if rest, dreaming, or just pottering around your studio were part of your creative rhythm, not a distraction from it?

Trust your flow. It’s wiser than you think. I know I will be leaning into more time away from the studio and more time in the water as I plan some lovely nurturing holidays.

What about you? Where are you in your creative cycle? Rest or activity? Perhaps somewhere in between. Tell me in the comments or send me an email and let me know