As A Creative, You NEED to Look After Yourself

Reading time: 3 minutes

Asalaamu alaikum everyone, what’s up! 👋🏽

Been a little quiet since my last piece - designing, travelling 🛫 (again), came back to UK then left again a few weeks later, and just living life slightly outside of the digital space for once.

👉🏽 Here’s a glimpse of what happened 👉🏽

It was nice, but I’m back.

To kick things off again, I want to share a reminder about why we, as creatives, need to look after ourselves and why it’s healthy to take breaks. Because a lot of us are living like this:

One thing I’ve noticed in myself and other creatives is that it’s easy to neglect our health, diet, and overall well-being due to the intensity of the work we do. Yeah, “drawing pictures” or “taking a photo” (as some people may see it) isn’t a simple task 🥴 and at times it can become a strain if we’re not looking after ourselves properly.

This is especially true for those of us running our own creative businesses. The lines between work and personal life can easily get blurred if we’re not mentally and physically detaching ourselves from our craft.

Give yourself days off. Step away from your desk or workspace. Allow yourself time and space to unwind after each creative session. Go out for walks in nature — soak up the sunshine (before the days get shorter ) and breathe in the fresh air. And if you’re not into walking in the outdoors, then engage in workouts by hitting the gym - just keep yourself active and give your brain a break.

Detach from your devices and during this time, don’t feel obliged to respond to every client or query, message or e-mail that pops through. (Tip: I’ve turned off Instagram, e-mail and all messaging app notifications on my phone and not only does it help reduce screen time, it also means I get to check and reply to any queries when it’s convenient for me. I definitely recommend this.)

When it comes to food, eat properly and nourish yourself and don’t just rely on snacks or a takeout. Drink plenty of water instead of energy drinks or coffee. And when your body signals to you that it’s time to rest, take a nap or shut down and get to sleep!

Make all of this a regular part of your routine.

The most important thing is to protect your peace of mind and overall well-being. This will help you avoid burnout and most importantly, keep your creativity pumping!

Finally, working hard to accomplish your goals is something commendable (so props to all of you creative folks for doing what you do) but everything needs to be done in moderation otherwise it’ll just lead to chaos.

Look after yourself gang, because most times, no one else will.

Until next time, ✌🏽+ 💙

P.S. I’m currently offering a big discount on our Haramain Photo Pack. Use the coupon code ENDGAME40 at the checkout to save 40% on the 60 and 90 Pack. This is a royalty-free collection of photos I put together for digital usage. Here’s the story behind why I put this digital pack together, and go grab it by clicking the post below: