Why You Need to Create Even When You Don’t Feel Like It
Have you ever told yourself, I’ll create when I feel better? When the stress calms down, when I have more energy, when inspiration strikes? If so, you’re not alone. However, waiting to feel good before you can engage with your creativity is a trap.
In today’s post, I want to talk about why creativity isn’t something you save for the “good days” and why it’s something that can actually help you through the hard ones.
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The Myth of Waiting for Inspiration
We’re living in tough times. The news is overwhelming, the world feels heavy, and honestly, it’s easy to believe that we need to feel good before we can pick up our creative tools. But that belief? It’s just a myth.
I create every day—as a graphic designer, a podcast host, a writer. Some of that work is for others, where there’s an end goal, a deadline, a result.
But the most important creativity in my life is the kind that has no agenda. The kind that’s just for me, where I get to express myself freely and don’t have to worry about doing things right or wrong. Because at the end of the day, I create to feel good, to connect with myself, and to process life.
If you’ve been conditioned to think that creativity only happens when you feel great, I want to challenge that. Because creativity isn’t just for decoration or for when it’s convenient. Creativity is a vehicle to help you express and share your vulnerability and humanity. Creative expression is about showing up as you are, even when you’re tired, anxious, or uninspired.
The Pressure to Be Perfect
Another reason we hold ourselves back? We are putting way too much pressure on ourselves.
If you’re like me, you probably have very high expectations of yourself and this tends to show up when you want to create. Maybe you only have 15 or 30 minutes to do something small (because that’s all the time you currently have) but you still expect to finish it all in one sitting or produce something amazing every single time.
But when we expect perfection in a tiny window of time, we set ourselves up for disappointment and frustration and this can become a creative block.
Here’s what I’ve learned: It’s okay to work slowly. It’s okay to take breaks. In fact, if you stop seeing unfinished work as failure and instead as something to return to, creativity actually gets easier. You’re not starting from scratch every time—you’re picking up where you left off.
Don’t Think—Just Start
A huge mistake I see clients make (and one I used to make myself) is waiting until they know exactly what they want to create before they start.
Here’s the thing: the answers don’t come from thinking—they come from doing.
When you sit down and start, even if you don’t feel inspired, something shifts. Your brain wakes up. You start making connections. New ideas emerge. You don’t need to have a masterpiece in your head before you begin. You just need to begin.
Do You Feel Like You Have to Earn Creativity?
This one hits deep, especially if you come from a background where hard work and productivity were the highest virtues.
I grew up in an immigrant family, and the message was clear: Work hard. Be excellent. Make the most of every opportunity. There was no time for fun or to relax. So, creativity, unless it had a clear purpose, felt like a luxury.
And if you’ve ever felt like spending time on creativity was “frivolous” or “self-indulgent” because it wasn’t leading to a tangible result, I see you.
But here’s the truth: creativity isn’t a nice-to-have—it’s a necessity.
For those of us who are deep feelers, sensitive and intuitive, creativity isn’t just a way to pass the time. It’s how we process life. It’s how we regulate our emotions. It’s how we make sense of the world.
So no, you don’t need to earn the right to create. You don’t need to prove that your creative time is worth it. It already is.
Key Takeaway
If you take one thing away from this, let it be this: creativity isn’t just for when you feel good. It’s how you get to feeling good.
So instead of treating creativity like an optional activity, make it a practice—like drinking water, stretching in the morning, or journaling. A creative habit that isn’t about perfection or productivity, but about nourishing yourself.
Even just 10-15 minutes a day. Not to create something good, but to simply create.
Because the more you show up for your creativity, the more it will show up for you.
Renata is a creativity coach empowering neurodivergent and multi-passionate women of color, to use creativity as a tool for self-discovery and healing, so they can let go of feeling inadequate and insecure and start experiencing more confidence and self-acceptance. She’s currently offering a free copy of her therapeutic art making workbook when you sign up for her email list. Sign up here to get your free copy.
