✨ Low-Stakes Creativity for the Exhausted & Overstimulated

Here’s the thing about motherhood, burnout, and trying to chase your dreams while keeping small humans alive:
Creativity starts to feel… expensive.

Not financially (though, lol, yes) — but energetically.
It feels like something you have to earn.
Like you’re not allowed to write, or draw, or paint, or dream until the laundry is done, the kids are calm, and the house is peaceful.

And if you’re like me… that means creativity gets shoved down to the very bottom of the to-do list. Right under “sleep” and “drink water like a functioning human.”

But here’s what I’ve learned (mostly from sheer exhaustion):

Creativity doesn’t have to be big to be worth it.

This past week I didn’t outline a new book. I didn’t write 2,000 words a day. I didn’t launch a new project.
But I did update my reading journal.
I used a different color for every review. I printed little book covers on my HP Sprocket. I wrote how I read each book — physical, audio, eBook, or “while hiding from my kids in the bathroom.”

And honestly?
It felt amazing.

It was low-stakes. Quiet. Mine.

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✨ Here’s what else counts as creativity:

• Doodling in the margins of your planner

• Reorganizing your bookshelves by vibes only

• Recording a podcast episode while sitting on the floor

• Writing a to-do list just to check off “make coffee”

• Dreaming about a new story without opening a single document

If you did any of these this week — or something like them — I want you to say it out loud:
“That counts.”

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This is your official permission slip to:

• Be creative in weird, quiet, chaotic ways

• Make stuff without the pressure of finishing it

• Do it for you, not for social media

• Celebrate 5 minutes of play the same way we celebrate 5 hours of hustle

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So tell me: What’s the smallest, silliest, or sweetest creative thing you did this week?
Drop it in the comments so we can all high-five each other for showing up — imperfectly, inconsistently, beautifully.

We’re mostly making it, and honestly? That’s the magic.

xoxo,
Courtny