Stop Treating Your Creative Work Like It’s Optional

One of the things I see often in my work with creative business owners is a quiet longing to reconnect with the creative part of their work. The part that feels nourishing, and brings energy and meaning to what they do.

But somehow, that work keeps slipping through the cracks.

It is not because they do not care. Most of the time, it is because they are trying to keep too many plates spinning.

There are emails to reply to, logistics to manage, clients to support, and a business to keep going. The part of the day that was meant for painting, writing or creating gets eaten up by everything else.

That creative time ends up becoming something you will get to later. But that later rarely arrives. The days pass, and you start to feel more and more disconnected from what drew you to this work in the first place.

Here is the thing: no one else is going to set that time aside for you. If you do not protect it, something else will always move in to claim it.

I sometimes ask clients, “What is the work you keep putting off?” Often, it is not the admin or the operational tasks. It is the creative core of their work - the part that feels most personal, most meaningful, and sometimes, most vulnerable.

Avoiding it comes at a cost. Not just because it does not get done, but because it starts to shift how you feel about your business. Instead of feeling spacious or meaningful, it starts to feel heavy. Like a list of obligations. The longer that goes on, the harder it becomes to show up with any sense of energy or clarity.

You begin to wonder if this is really what you wanted, or if you have built something that now requires more from you than it gives back.

If that is a feeling you recognise, it may help to pause and reflect on a few things:

• When do you feel most connected to your creative self?

• What tends to get in the way of that?

• Where could you start protecting a small window of time, not as a luxury, but as a non-negotiable?

This kind of work is not just about expression or output. It is a way of grounding yourself. It helps you regulate your nervous system, make better decisions, and stay anchored when things around you feel uncertain or overwhelming.

You do not need a full day or a retreat to get back to it. You can start with an hour, a sketch, a quiet moment with a notebook. What matters most is that you keep returning to it.

You built your business with intention. Try not to let the most important parts of it get lost along the way.