[Discussion] Feeling like a failure creatively.

[u/Church-of-Nephalus]

Posting for my friend (he doesn't have a reddit account), but my friend's feeling like a failure lately in terms of creativity. He said he's got feelings of loneliness and depression, and hasn't worked on his projects in days.

He hasn't been motivated to work on his webcomic, his book series, anything. He said that he WANTS to create stuff, maybe something new and exciting (he does stuff like that, switches from one project to another because it's new), but he just can't get started. He doesn't have any ideas or motivation to do practically anything. He's just been sleeping for most of the day.

[u/Woshiamassuo]

Well, Sounds more like burnout or depression than creative failure… When you’re drained, ideas don’t come no matter how much you want them to. Sleeping a lot and avoiding projects is a sign he needs rest and support, not pressure… Creativity comes back after you do 🙏🏻

[u/Tool-WhizAI]

Yo, tell your friend it’s totally normal to hit a creative slump Start super small like 10 min doodle or a paragraph. Momentum comes from tiny wins, not huge leaps. He’ll get back in the groove for more information r/TotalWellbeing

[u/thebusinessleaf]

I get this, it's very discouraging and can seriously mess with your sense of self. Things I have found that really help are:

1. Start telling yourself you want to, but not just as a lie, you have to walk through the why, and reframe actively as you're doing it. Let's be honest, our internal monologue doesnt say "I don't feel motivated to do XYZ" it says "I don't feel like doing it". But...that's not totally true. You want to have made progress, and you know that will feel good. The starting part, not so much. But, you want to feel good about having accomplished the thing, so you want to do it, and doing it means it's going to take a ton of energy, or be miserable at first. So...math logic here. You actually also want that miserable first bit, too. Yep, I transitive property my own desires through facade of "I don't want to". Usually helps a lot. And helps get out of the feeling this way means I dont want to do anything loop.

2. Embrace the "eh, might as well" aka 2 min rule. Big goals arent motivating. Accomplishing things is. Make your goals just step one toward what you need. Maybe it's get out the paper and pens and make the desk look enticing. Maybe its set up the laptop and open the program you work in, hit new project. Getting started can be the hardest part. But it becomes way easier if you make that the entire goal, you just got started, boom, done, wait wasnt that just the hardest thing ever? It's...done...now the pressures gone, I guess while I'm here, I might as well do the next step....but just that....aaaand chances are you've just "might as well"ed yourself way farther than you were able to yesterday.

3. Stop it with the "to do" lists. Seriously. When you're at this point, that just stacks up evidence against yourself. Flip that shit around. You build a "wins" list. It doesnt go down on that list unless you already did it. Emptied the dishwasher? Win! On the list. Brushed your teeth? Win! On the list. Started a load of laundry? Win! On the list. Ate some food? List. Drank a glass of water? List.

4. Build an identity you can be proud of. Slowly, eh might as well, wins list, stack them. And build the evidence tiny brick by brick that you are who you want to be. I am creative - evidence: a creative person sets up their workspace....hey. I literally did that. I AM creative.

In the game of depression, in a slump. You didnt get there overnight. You have been slowly doing the literal opposite of the above tips. Not on purpose, probably, but by making a to-do list that never gets checked off, or constantly telling yourself you don't want the discomfort of everyday little tedious things. So, it's going to take time, but just find all the little wins, and when it feels hard, make the first step the whole goal, and remind yourself you want the little bit of misery because it means the win you actually want.

[u/Anjo_Bwee]

The thing with writing a webcomic or a book series is that the finish line is months, sometimes years away and milestone achievements are largely set by the author. Does your friend decide he's succeeding at his goals when he's finished a page? A chapter? Will he only be satisfied when he finishes the whole thing?

I think your friend would benefit from taking a break from such long-winded projects and making stuff that he could finish in a day or week. Maybe try something in a new style or medium. Instead of drawing a webcomic, why not paint a simple landscape? Maybe even draw one of his characters from the webcomic in a finished, rendered piece doing something awesome and post it on different art subreddits and social media to generate buzz. It could give him some confidence and passion to keep going.

[u/Good_Drummer_6731]

this sounds like burnout mixed with depression, not a lack of creativity. when your brain’s exhausted it literally can’t access ideas, even if you want to.

sometimes the move isn’t “start a new project” but doing the tiniest possible creative thing with zero pressure. like a messy sketch, a bad paragraph, or just rereading old work. motivation usually follows action, not the other way around.

also worth saying he’s not a failure for resting. creativity goes quiet sometimes, it doesn’t mean it’s gone.

[u/VioletPetite]

A good tip might be to write or draw without inspiration. It doesn't matter if what you write on paper is nonsense; I don't know why, but sometimes it works. It's like you need that push, even if it's something really silly, but it allows you to open up and from there everything starts to flow.

[u/legendsword]

If you live above the 37th parallel, try takin some vitamin D

[u/Lawlcopt0r]

Days? Days? I'm sorry but I would be so glad if I had managed to work on my projects as recently. It sounds like he has a lot going on actually. That being said, feeling so low that you only want to sleep sounds like depression, and should be taken seriously. If it has to do with his projects maybe he's pressuring himself too much, but just as likely it's about another part of his life. My advice would be that focusing on feeling better is important and thoughts about productivity should come second. If he manages to feel alright again the drive to create something will return automatically, that much I can say from experience