How to protect a ‘creative bubble’
Have you ever felt like you needed to escape from the world in order to work on something important to you?
I call it going into a “creative bubble,” and not too long ago, I needed to retreat into one myself.
Let me paint the scene:
I had a big project on my plate with an intimidating deadline. It was something I genuinely wanted to spend my time on: When I would sit down to work on it, the creativity just flowed out of me. It was the kind of thing I could work on for hours, barely aware that time was passing, and only stop when I had something else that needed my attention.
But between the rest of my work and the busyness that comes with life in general, I was struggling to make progress. I started to get disappointed when there would be several days in a row when I couldn’t make headway on it, and I found myself wishing I had more uninterrupted time every day to stay in my flow. I felt like I could make a meaningful dent in it if I pressed “pause” on everything else for just a bit, turned inward, and temporarily withdrew from the world.
That’s why I decided to carve out a “creative bubble” for myself—but doing so wasn’t easy.
It took several weeks of planning, working ahead, and rearranging my schedule, but eventually, I managed to block off several weeks in a row where my biggest responsibility was getting my project to the finish line.
Now that I'm out of the bubble, I want to share what I learned about navigating an intense creative season this way and how I made intentional tradeoffs to protect that time for myself without guilt.
Here are five things that helped me keep my creative bubble thriving:
1. Creating understanding in my relationships
Choosing to go all-in on this project meant that I had to make some tough choices about my time for a short season.
It meant turning down invitations for dinners, not going on a trip with my friends to see the Backstreet Boys in Las Vegas, going to a coffee shop to work instead of a neighborhood pool party, and staying upstairs in my office when Spiros had friends over. It also meant fewer date nights with Spiros and visits to see my parents and sister, and it even looked like not going to a conference that Spiros had in Puerto Rico. Instead, he and our daughter went and made memories on their own.
I know it might seem like I prioritized a work project over being with my loved ones. And in a sense, I did. But I knew that taking a season to prioritize this project would actually help me show up better in my relationships.
Early in the project, when I’d be at dinner with friends, ideas would take over my mind, and I’d find myself wishing I could leave the table to go work on them. Or I’d be with family, and I’d be stressed instead of present because I was thinking about my impending deadline. I knew that going into my own bubble and finishing the project would be the best gift I could give to myself and to them.
But I didn’t just turn down plans. I made sure that everyone in my life who is important to me knew about my creative bubble. We talked about what this season would mean for me and us, the boundaries I had to set around my time, and also, that it might be a bummer for a bit. But we also talked about what would happen when this project was across the finish line: all the memories we’d make, how present I would be, and how I’d be able to show up in my relationships knowing that I gave my best to something that really mattered to me.
Every person understood, and not one person took offense when I had to turn them down. And now that I’m back in the world, I’ve kept my promise. Looking back, I realize how freeing these conversations were for me because they allowed me to stay in my bubble without feeling bad about it.
2. Giving myself permission to be less productive
I knew that making a lot of progress on my project would mean not making progress in other areas, and at first, I worried about falling behind.
In the early stages of my project, I would make lists of all the other work I needed to do and tell myself that once I knocked a few things off the list, then I could work on my project. I probably don’t need to tell you how that worked out: By the time I tackled other items on my list, I had no energy left for my project.
When I went into my creative bubble, I accepted the fact that I would fall behind in other areas. In fact, that’s kind of the whole point of going into a bubble. You put all of your creative energy and attention into one thing and give yourself permission not to focus on anything else.
In order to do that while ensuring I still did my job well, I spent time before going into my bubble getting ahead on my work. I made a list of everything that was due in the coming weeks and buckled down to get it done early. I worked with my team to get ahead on deadlines, made sure they had everything they needed to be empowered without me, and had conversations with my clients about my limited capacity. I even announced I would take some time off from writing this blog and posting on social media.
By the time I entered my bubble, I was ahead on my other work, and knowing that I had that space allowed my mind to really disconnect from my other tasks. Of course, life didn’t just stop, so there were still some tasks I had to do while I was in my bubble. But because I had planned so far ahead, these weren’t emergencies. I would do them when I took a break, and I was fine with only doing the bare minimum to keep things moving until I could fully focus on it.
3. Putting habits on pause
Normally, I’m someone who works out most days. I go for runs, work out with a trainer, attend workout classes, and I love it all. It’s a huge part of what helps me feel my best.
But in this intense creative season, my workout routine started to not feel that way. When I’d wake up early to go work out, it began to feel like stress and like my body was craving a break. Looking back, I think a creative project like this one required a lot from me physically, but in a different way. It was almost like I was working out my mind instead of my body.
I decided to honor my physical signals and give myself what I needed. I took a significant break from my runs and regular workout habits and had conversations with my trainer and running coach, who both encouraged that pause. I decided to take a walk each day instead, and I quickly realized how restorative that was for me. In addition to getting my steps in, my walks helped me decompress, connect with myself, and sometimes they even served as opportunities to flesh out my ideas. I often took more than one walk a day.
Because I was still moving my body each day, I didn’t feel like I was neglecting myself or my health. But it felt good to do it in a way that felt right for me in that season, and now that I’m out of my bubble, I’m back to my routines and feeling great! In fact, because I took a break, I’ve found a renewed energy and excitement in returning to them.
4. Inspiring environments
I’ve found that when I’m doing creative work, the environment around me plays a huge part in how inspired I’m feeling. It can really make or break my creativity.
I have an office at home that I intentionally designed to be a creative space for myself. It’s my version of a moody study: The walls are dark and lined with bookshelves that hold my favorite books, and there’s a cozy couch and lots of windows. It’s often the place where I do my very best work.
But sometimes, I need to switch it up. Every now and then, I hit a creative rut and feel like I need to change my space in order to get my juices flowing again. For my creative bubble, this was definitely the case. I felt like in order to have a true retreat, I needed to spend time away from my familiar environment.
I had worked in the lobby of a hotel a couple miles from my house before, and I loved the creative energy of the place. I just had a feeling that if I booked a room and stayed at this hotel a while, it would be another spot where I could do some of my best work. I called the hotel, spoke to the manager, and what do you know—he used to live in Gainesville (where I used to live!). Thanks to his help, we worked out a package for me to stay at the hotel for two weeks.
At first, I felt silly doing this. Why would I stay in a hotel for two weeks when I live just a couple miles down the road? But by the time I was all settled in that first night, I knew I had made the right choice.
When I look back on this project, I can see that the greatest amount of momentum I made on it was during my stay at this hotel. It allowed me to feel like I was retreating from the world and gave me even more permission to go all in. The best part was that the hotel staff knew about my project, so every time I’d pass them, they’d ask how it was going. They’d see me working for hours in the lobby and gently come up to me and remind me to order lunch or dinner. I felt taken care of, and it became a home away from home.
And then, after almost two weeks there, I woke up one morning and knew I was ready to go back home. When I stepped back into my office, I felt just as inspired.
5. Keeping my intentions front-and-center
Before I went into my creative bubble, I wrote down my intentions and reminders for myself on big sheets of paper and posted them all over my home office.
I wrote things like my reason for doing the project, how I wanted to feel while working on it, how I would take care of my mind, body, and soul while bringing it to life, and all the ways I would feel when it was done.
I wrote things like “Let go of perfection,” “Keep it simple,” and “Keep it human.” I wrote “Give myself grace, love, and compassion,” and “Have fun.” I said I wanted to listen to great music, fuel my body with nutritious foods, wear comfy clothes, do skin masks, and get outside at least once a day. I wrote that when it was done I’d feel proud, alive, and free. I wrote about all the memories I’d be able to make with friends and family and how I’d be able to spend my weekends.
Before I worked on my project each day, I’d look at these posters to center myself. I even took them to the hotel so that I could look at them there. Not only did doing so help me remain intentional, but anytime I started to feel discouraged or disconnected from my purpose, they became a way for me to anchor myself.
The most special moment was when I turned in my project and realized that I’d brought every single thing to life that I’d written down on my posters. It reminded me about the power of setting intentions before you embark on anything meaningful in your life.
Now that I’ve experienced the power of the creative bubble, I’m ready to go into one more often when I need it. It doesn’t necessarily need to look like a long period of time—or a two-week stay at a hotel—but I can see how even a few days can be powerful.
It takes courage to step away from a world that asks you to always be on and to retreat into yourself and your creativity. It takes courage to set boundaries for yourself, your work, and your loved ones. But I also believe that when we allow ourselves to go into that bubble every once in a while, it is one of the secrets to doing our very best work.
The challenge is to decide what requires a bubble and what doesn’t. For me, I know it when I can feel my soul calling for it. It’s when a project gives me a chance to use my gifts in a way that I might not get to otherwise and when I’m working on something that I feel like I was put on this earth to do. It’s when a project makes me feel alive and when I know the temporary tradeoffs to work on it are worth it.
How about you? Have you ever felt that same urge to go into your own creative bubble? Is there a project on the horizon for you (at work or outside of it) where you could benefit from retreating into yourself like I did? Hit “reply” and tell me all about it. My team and I love reading your responses!
I hope you’ll join me in giving yourself the space and permission to nurture your creativity . . . without an ounce of guilt.
And, speaking of taking time for yourself, next week is our company’s Break Week. We take six Break Weeks throughout the year to give everyone on our team the chance to unplug from work and invest into other areas of their lives.
I’ll see you back here on July 14th!
Big hugs,
