Coming Back to Creativity after Loss
Re-engage old habits, create new rituals of connection, and find new ways to process and express your grief after loss
Grief is a forced pause
For many creatives, art is a core part of life. It’s a support system, a grounding space, and a way to express what you need to. So when grief steals that piece of your life, it can feel like you have nowhere to turn to help you through the pain. And there’s often an expectation that since you’re a creative, you’ll be magically able to transmute the pain of your grief into wonderful, cathartic art.
But grief is intensely mentally taxing. Loss is overwhelming, and your mind naturally shuts down intense experiences by making you numb out, giving you brain fog, and taking away your interest in other mentally-engaging hobbies. Creativity requires a lot from your mind, and in the early stages of grief it’s prioritizing other things.
The season of grieving is often a creative drought. Your mind needs time and space to rest and recover. Every grief is different, and you may find that some losses spur your art while others shut down your creativity. Your mind knows what it needs, and it’s okay to give it space to process through the loss in its own time. You’re going through a lot. Each season has its place in life, and this might be a time to rest, recover, and just focus on being.
Returning to creative practice
When you feel like you are ready to come back to your regular practice or try something else for a time, prepare to take your time. Stretching back into your creativity can take a little while, and you might be disappointed if you expect to jump straight back into a big project.
Start with lower-stakes exploration, going back to basics. Play around in your medium, just doing small things with no expectations. Engage with your art with all your senses, trying to stay mindful of the process without expectation of any particular result.
Give yourself a time limit even if it’s just a very small slice of time. Even five or ten minutes on a timer can give your mind a sense of containment that allows it to relax and be more creative. And having a time limit helps you release your expectations about what comes out.
Creativity responds best to curiosity. You might tap into curiosity more easily by trying a new form of art, or by focusing on microskills and sensory grounding within your preferred medium.
Whether or not you want to make art about your loss is up to you, and that decision may change over time. You know your inner experience best, and it’s equally okay if you choose to do an entire series about grief or if you decide you don’t want to use your art to process your loss.
Honor your body’s needs
Trust that your creativity is not gone forever, it can just need a break while your mind is processing through all the fallout from your loss. It’s doing exactly what it’s designed to do, and it will heal best with the time and space it needs to work through all the neurobiological changes that come with grief.
Trust that you’ll know when it’s time to return to your creative practice. There’s no need to rush the process or push yourself before you’re ready. If your art is your job, this may require taking an extended break from creating new things. I know how hard it is to wait, especially through pain. But there’s no shortcut to grief, and trying to push yourself won’t make the healing happen any faster.
If you’re in California and want online support through your grief, learn more about how grief therapy with me works here.