How to Find Your Creativity Again As A Busy, Tired Business Owner

Let’s talk about a question I’ve been hearing a lot lately—one I’ve personally lived through in more ways than I can count:

“How do I find my creativity again when I feel completely depleted?”

If you’ve been there—stuck in survival mode, moving through grief, navigating a season of burnout or busyness—you know how hard it is to feel creative when your energy is at zero.

Here’s what I want to offer: Sometimes the thing that feels impossible—like playing, creating, or reconnecting to joy—is actually the very thing that brings you back to yourself.

It's Not That You're Not Creative—You're Just Exhausted

When we’re in a state of depletion, our nervous system is trying to protect us. It’s focused on survival, not expression. So, it’s not that the creativity is gone—it’s just buried under the weight of what you’re carrying.

And here’s where the mindset shift comes in:

Are you actually too depleted to be creative... or are you too depleted to do it the way you think it has to be done?

That’s the perfectionism talking. The all-or-nothing thinking that says if you can’t create a full masterpiece, why bother at all?

But here’s what I want you to know: Whatever it looks like right now gets to be enough.

Start Small. Let It Be Messy.

What if creativity, in this season, is scribbling on a piece of paper for 30 seconds?

What if it's keeping crayons in a basket on your kitchen table and doodling while your coffee brews?

What if it’s setting up a tiny art station in the corner of your office and stopping for a few minutes a day—just to see what comes out?

The first step is giving yourself permission to prioritize creative time—even if it doesn’t look like it “used to” or “should.”

The second step? Letting it be messy, small, and real.

Because I promise: when you stop trying to do it perfectly, you’ll actually start.

And with time, it becomes easier. More natural. It grows quietly at first, then all at once.

You Don’t Have to Do It the Way You Did Before

You’re in a new season. You’re a different version of yourself. Your creative process gets to evolve, too.

So please—give yourself a little grace. Give yourself permission to start wherever you are.

There’s no right way. No wrong way. Just the act of beginning.

Let this be your permission slip to play again.

—Cait

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