For some odd reason I burnout very frequently, or more like I get so brain dead that I literally cannot even come up with an Idea of what to do, let alone act on it. It feels like when I even try to start I get so exhausted that I have to lay down.
It always happens after I’m the most productive, but my down time feels so much longer than the time I get to create. I’d say I have at least 4 days to a week of productivity, and about 2 - 3 weeks of burnout. It’s nuts.
The cycle repeats, though it can vary wildly in how long each part is.
I’m starting to get hella annoyed since I haven’t drawn a thing in over a year and I was finally getting back into the groove at least doodling daily, just to be derailed hard.
I was thinking that I just lack creativity, but it became this catch-22 of “I have to actually draw with purpose and make things that I enjoy” and “I am so fucking tired that even opening a sketchbook or cleaning makes me want to take a nap / drop into a dead sleep”.
What are your thoughts?
It kind of sounds like you’re describing bipolar disorder. These cycles of up and down.
You said this low period always happens right after your most creative periods. Depressive cycles typically last longer than the manic phase which is what you described.
Not a doctor obviously but I lived with it undiagnosed for a very long time. Maybe read up on it and see if it fits your experience.
Whatever it is I hope you find some relief.
This is only a small advice. Take it or leave it, of course. Burn out is real, if that’s what your are experiencing. And it effects all parts of your life. For example, if you have burn out because of work, your hobbies suffer because you’re just burnt out.
Be kind to yourself. Life, or burn out, only gets even worse when you get mad at yourself for not doing something or not being productive. It’s okay to be tired. It sucks when life takes away from your hobbies and the things you love. But don’t beat yourself up! It’s okay to do nothing even when it doesn’t feel okay.
It’s really difficult to do nothing when you’re so used to being occupied though, like all the things i do are involved, I gotta find new things that arent involved… wack
You’re doing too much cognitive work. This is why I had to leave software development: it was just too much load on my brain to he sustainable.
Our economy isn’t set up for you to work 20% of the time, unless you can make a product and sell it, or get super high rates for when you are working.
If you can’t maintain output for about 60% of the time, you’re doing a job that you can’t do.
Burnout is something a lot more serious. It usually takes many months to years to recover, if you recover at all.
That’s really bad ratios but I can only give you the generic advice, I doubt it’s enough but maybe it’ll help a bit.
Get good long sleep, cool room, blacked out room. People say 8 hrs but try 9-10. Dim lights in a warm color range 1-2 hrs before bed.
Try to eliminate caffeine. If it can’t, no caffeine after noon.
Eat chicken liver. Lots of vitamins.
You can try creatine if you want.
It’s hard to stray away from caffeine later on since my job is in the morning and I have to stay alert until at least dusk since my S.O. doesn’t have a license and she works afternoons and nights.
Also first I heard of the chicken liver and creatine stuff, what’s the supposed effects of those?
Well I think I found the problem. Caffeine late in the day is interfering with your sleep, which means you then need caffeine to stay awake, which then interferes with your sleep, etc. You really need to break the pattern. You shouldn’t need it to be functional.
Liver is nature’s multivitamin. Lots of everything but exceptionally B vitamins.
Creatine you see mainly in working out so you don’t get tired (it’s a molecule important in the energy system), but there are ideas that is good for everyone.
Lol I read “bad Cyrillic burnout.”
Мне похуй блять
This might not apply to you but its worth a shot.
IMO we as humans were never supposed to get immense motivation BEFORE an action. Its supposed to come after you see the results of your work.
That said, you keep coming up with excuses you cant create:
- Too tired
- Ideas aren’t good enough
- Not in the right mindset
- What I make won’t look good anyways
You need to alter your perspective because that is what is holding you back. You could draw despite all of those reasons above, but you CHOOSE not to.
I don’t want to make it like a pull yourself up by your boot straps thing, I only say its a choice you are making so hopefully you will realize that you could just choose to draw.
Even if what you create is devoid of creativity, is unoriginal, does not represent you, and just plain looks bad, its still better to have created something and throw it away than to have created nothing.
Also any strong emotion can result in beautiful art, whether its a positive emotion or negative. Most people just want to see emotional honesty in art. Nothing wrong with how you feel, other than you preferring feeling a different way at the time.
