Is Your Art Burning You Out?

I really hate this time of year, after the holiday excitement has died down. All that remains where I live is brutally cold weather. It doesn’t feel like there’s much to look forward to. This past week has felt especially tough. Being cooped up inside is the worst, and my energy levels are low as a result. It seems like everyone is sick right now, so going anywhere feels risky. It’s hard not to feel down about the state of the world.

This past Monday, I really came unraveled. I had 30 outstanding orders to package, and zero energy. Luckily, Ryan had the day off, so he helped me big time. Even with his help, we didn’t do our FedEx drop off until 4:30pm. I got home, exhausted, realizing I still had my Day 17 painting to do for my #30homeobjects series. If I make these series look easy online, they’re not. They are really darn tough sometimes. Monday, in particular, I felt like I wanted to scream. It was just too much. My head wasn’t in it.

Instead of giving up, I got myself a Starbucks. We got home, and I said to myself, “if I paint anything at all today, that’s a big win.” So, I set a 20 minute timer, put some happy music on, and I painted a simple pineapple. It actually ended up taking 15 minutes. It’s not the best painting I’ve ever done, but that doesn’t matter. I showed up and did the best I could. Once I was done, I vegged on the couch the rest of the night and rested. We didn’t even make dinner. We just heated up soup.

I’ve thought a lot about burnout over the years, and I’ve concluded the cause is expecting more from yourself than you’re physically and mentally able to give. So how do I deal with burnout? Lowering my expectations. Sometimes I’m shocked at how little I’m able to do, and that’s okay. The sweet spot is doing just enough to feel like I’m making progress on my goals, but not so much where I’m compromising my health.

Monday, I could have forced myself to paint something really ambitious. I could have worked until all hours of the night, but it would have thrown me off balance for the rest of the week. I would’ve had to paint something much easier than a pineapple the following day, in order to recover. Pushing myself too hard in that moment could have made me quit my series all together. That’s the thing about burnout, it’s like debt that accumulates interest. Push yourself too hard today, you’ll need to rest even more tomorrow. Push yourself hard for years, and you’re headed for a breakdown that could take months (or years) to pull through. I recently read the book Effortless, by Greg McKeown and he says, “Do not do more today than you can completely recover from by tomorrow.” Incredibly wise advice.

The key to dealing with burnout is being honest with ourselves on what we are able to accomplish. I used to make huge daily task lists. Then, I’d beat myself up for not finishing the list. Unfortunately, this mental chatter contributes to burnout too. That voice in your head that says, “you’re not doing enough,” whittles away at your energy levels too. That voice takes away from what we’re actually capable of doing. Now, I just make a list of three business and three personal things to do every day. If I don’t get to those things, it’s okay. They just roll into tomorrow. If I told you just how small some of the items on my list are, you’d probably laugh at me.

So why is it that artists, in particular, really struggle with burnout? I think it’s because we have trouble giving ourselves space to make art. We’re still trying to do all the things everyone else does, on top of this massive undertaking. Let me tell you - it is SO difficult to get really good at something. There’s a reason most people don’t become experts at anything in their lifetimes. It’s really tough to make sacrifices. Art has to be something selfish we do for ourselves, before it can help others. I didn’t make art for most of my twenties. It just felt too difficult with everything else I had going on. Once I started thinking about how to simplify my life to make space for my art, something clicked. If I told you all the things I don’t do in order to make art most days, you’d probably think I was really strange. However, I’ve been able to output more paintings over the past few years than I ever thought possible. So I’d say strange is working for me. I’ve had people say to me, “you must have so much free time, to be able to make all this art.” Well, the truth is, I don’t have any more free time than anyone else. I’ve just decided I’m in the art game for the long haul, and the other things in my life need to step aside and make room.

I’m a big fan of journaling to solve life’s big problems. If you’re experiencing burnout right now, you’re not alone. Me too! Today, I’m going to noodle on the questions below to help me navigate my burnout. I hope these questions help you through it too.

• Rate your level of burnout on a scale from 1 to 10 (10 being the most burnt out).

• Whatever number you came up with, brainstorm that many nice things to do for yourself this week.

• What areas of life feel difficult right now? Is there anything I can do to make things easier on myself? If not, can I take from other areas of my life to put more focus here?

• What am I overcomplicating in my life?

• What things am I doing just to make others happy? Is there anything I can stop doing right now?

• In what areas of my life does it feel like I’m falling short?