creative outlets that saved me from burnout

burnout, for me, never looked like collapse. it looked like competence. i was still showing up to work, still replying to messages, still writing things that made sense. but underneath the performance of functionality, i felt like a stranger to myself. i didn’t cry or rage or spiral. i just… dulled. days started blending into each other. i’d wake up and forget what day it was. i’d finish tasks and feel nothing. i’d scroll, scroll, scroll — not out of curiosity, but because i didn’t have the energy to choose anything else. and in that blurry, flattened state, the only thing that slowly began to bring me back to myself was creativity.

but not the capital-C creativity that comes with pressure. not the kind that involves planning or posting or performing. i’m talking about the small, private kind. the kind that didn’t ask for productivity or output. the kind that asked for presence. the kind that reminded me i had an inner world — one that still had color, even if everything around me felt grey. it started with a playlist. then a badly drawn sketch. then a dumb little photo of the light hitting my kitchen tiles. and somehow, without realizing it, those tiny creative acts became breadcrumbs. they didn’t save me all at once, but they helped me find my way back. and here are some of the ones that changed everything.