How to Leverage the Power of Therapy to Completely Transform Your Creative Life
At a Glance
Today, we’re talking about Mental Health
More specifically, we’re talking about the direct benefits therapy can have in your life.
You’ll learn why therapy is important, what it can teach you, and how it can help you manage your chaotic creative life.
Therapy hasn’t always been a part of my life. But in the time I’ve sought therapy, I’ve come to appreciate it more and more as a tool for enhancing my creative journey and overall well-being.
Therapy can be scary.
But I wouldn’t be afraid of therapy as a tool.
Rather, I’d be afraid of what my life could look like in 20 years without it.
I booted up my computer.
It was almost time.
I turned on my mic, uncovered the shield from my webcam, signed on to my account, and pressed “Enter Meeting.”
For a brief moment, I waited for a new face to appear. I never thought I’d be waiting for a meeting like this, and yet, it felt right.
The new face appeared.
Smiling and inviting.
“Hi, I’m Mike”
“Hi, I’m ….”
The conversation carried on.
I told her about my family history and my reasons for reaching out. I began opening up to a complete stranger.
But this was no typical Zoom call.
And this stranger was my therapist.
My Journey to Therapy
Therapy is a recent addition to the journey for me.
For most of my life, I’ve been pretty even-keeled. Almost anyone who knows me would likely say something like, “Mike never gets mad,” or “Mike is always so kind.” But there’s another side to that. I don’t often let people into my life beyond the surface. In fact, aside from close friends and family, most people don’t really know who I am at all.
I share bits and pieces of myself with the world, but it’s a fractured puzzle—one only a few have the missing pieces to. All this is to say that I’ve had issues like anyone—financial, relationship, physical, and emotional. I’m human, and to assume otherwise would be foolish.
I’m a naturally patient and resilient person.
I don’t get really angry and blow up at people. I just get sort of sarcastic. I don’t explode because I don’t feel like the thing provoking me is ever really worth that kind of energy from me. I get frustrated, but I don’t turn on a dime.
I also feel like my journey through burnout has taught me a lot about myself.
I used to be driven by career and career only. No matter what, I was going to live the “American Dream” and make a name for myself through my design skills and ambition.
That energy and singular focus only brought me pain and frustration. In the seven years since I had my major episode, I’ve done a lot of work on my own—physically, mentally, and emotionally—to stem the tide. I’ve effectively become a different version of myself by replacing the habits that put me in burnout with ones that make it hard for me to imagine ever going back again.
I value my time and energy differently now.
That comfort in who I am had become a double-edged sword though.
About 6 months ago, I was journaling about something completely mundane and realized that I had become trapped in this idea that I don’t need help anymore. I wrote, ”You may know a lot. But you don’t know everything.”
That, my friend, is blatantly not true—everyone needs help.
We all need to go to the doctor for a regular checkup. We get physicals every year. We see the dentist and get our cleanings. We see the eye doctor to see better, and so on…
The point is that mental health is just as important as physical health.
But we don’t treat it that way in our society. Unless it’s in our face, hurting us somehow right now, it doesn’t matter.
We have too much going on… all the time.
And that’s a frantic way to live.
It took reflection and a catalyst for me to start therapy for myself.
Why I Started Therapy
I started therapy personally for two reasons.
Understanding — Especially in recent years, I’ve adopted a mindset of “try everything at least once” if only for the experience of the thing. I wanted to know what therapy could do for me and what it could do for others. I’m always on the hunt for resources that help me or others thrive in their creative lives.
To solve a Problem — Though I’d like to say that I sought therapy for maintenance reasons only, the real catalyst for my seeing a therapist was an issue I was having in my life that I wanted to solve. I won’t get into the issue specifically here, but let’s say it had the potential to change my life. As you’ll see in the rest of this post, therapy was a key factor in helping me get through it successfully. Maybe I’ll elaborate on the issue more one day. But today is not that day.
Ultimately, I chose to work with an online group called “BetterHelp.” If you’re a podcast junkie like yours truly, you’ve probably heard your favorite show’s ad spots shout out to BetterHelp. It’s an online tool that sets you up with a real therapist to reduce the friction of getting started with therapy itself.
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Why Online vs In-Person?
I went the online route because it was convenient AND I had a code to get some fee off the top for the first month.
Convenience — BetterHelp is convenient because it gets you started in a few easy steps. You fill out a simple survey on why you want to start therapy; then it matches you with an expert who specializes in that reason. In a day or so, you get your therapist, schedule your first appointment, and basically show up to talk. The format allowed me to schedule the session at home in the comfort of my office setup with a cozy atmosphere. Way different I’d imagine than that traditional long couch we’ve all seen in every therapist’s office in every movie ever, haha.
Cost — I’m still debating the costs for BetterHelp. I don’t have context for what therapy costs in person or locally. But many insurance plans cover therapy for maintenance, and I wanted to give it a shot. Now, I love having a conversation with my therapist nearly every week to work on any issues that came up since the last session and help me through the next week or so before the next.
5 Transformative Benefits of Therapy for a Creative Life
To be honest, there are countless reasons why therapy is beneficial to all of us. But for creative pros, therapy can be a direct path to heightened self-awareness, creativity, and resilience.
Here are some of my favorite ways therapy can help you transform your creative life.
Benefit 1 — Enhance Self-Understanding and Emotional Intelligence
At the heart of every creative endeavor is a deep understanding of the human experience. Therapy helps in peeling back the layers of one's psyche, enhancing self-awareness and emotional intelligence.
For creatives, this means better tapping into their own emotions and those of others, enriching their work with authenticity and depth. For instance, a writer understanding their own experiences with loss may portray their characters' grief more profoundly.
This enhanced emotional intelligence not only augments the quality of creative output but also improves interpersonal relationships, both of which are invaluable in the collaborative and often personal world of creative work.
Benefit 2 — Navigate Personal and Professional Challenges
Creative careers come with unique challenges: irregular work hours, income instability, and the vulnerability of putting one's work out there.
Therapy provides a supportive environment to navigate these issues, offering perspective and coping mechanisms that can make these challenges more manageable. Whether dealing with personal insecurities or professional setbacks, therapy can help creatives develop resilience and a clearer understanding of their goals and values.
This makes it not just about surviving in the creative industry but thriving and finding personal fulfillment through one's work.
Benefit 3 — Manage Stress and Preventing Burnout
The line between passion and burnout can be thin in creative professions, where personal investment in one's work is high.
Therapy offers strategies for stress management and teaches creatives to set healthy boundaries between their professional and personal lives. Recognizing the early signs of burnout and having a toolkit to address them can change the game for someone in a high-pressure creative role.
By maintaining a better balance and managing stress, creative professionals can ensure that their careers are sustainable in the long term and that their work continues to bring them joy rather than exhaustion.
Benefit 4 — Build Confidence and Assertiveness
A crucial component of a successful creative career is the ability to advocate for oneself—whether in promoting one’s work, negotiating contracts, or networking.
Therapy can be instrumental in building the confidence and assertiveness needed for these tasks. It can help individuals overcome imposter syndrome, a common obstacle among creatives, and develop a stronger sense of self-worth.
With greater self-assurance, creatives can more effectively communicate their ideas and stand firm in their artistic and professional decisions, leading to more fulfilling and successful careers.
Benefit 5 — Break Creative Blocks
Creativity isn't just a spark but a flame that needs to be nurtured. For creative professionals, mental blocks aren't just a nuisance; they're a significant barrier to their art and livelihood.
Therapy can act as a gentle wind, rekindling creativity by uncovering and addressing underlying issues like anxiety, stress, or unresolved personal problems. It provides a safe space to explore and understand one's thoughts and emotions, leading to breakthroughs not only personally but also in one's professional work.
By learning to navigate mental hurdles through therapy, creatives can find new sources of inspiration and develop healthier approaches to their work, transforming once insurmountable blocks into stepping stones.
Final Thoughts
Therapy is a tool.
The stigma around mental health is falling. And there are more resources available than ever, like BetterHelp, to give you the help you need to thrive in your creative life.
As a creative pro, therapy can be the difference between the life you have and the life you want. It can make you more resilient, self-aware, and reflective.
It may feel scary to share your life’s secrets with someone you don’t know. But if you haven’t tried therapy, I highly recommend it. These trained professionals can help you understand what’s blocking you from living your best life.
If you’d like to start your journey with therapy today, take a look at this from BetterHelp. You can get a free, 2-week trial. The deal includes unlimited text plus one weekly session with a therapist.
TL; DR
Therapy can be scary, but it doesn’t have to be.
Therapy is maintenance for the mind.
Creative Pros can benefit from therapy:
Enhance Self-Understanding and Emotional Intelligence
Navigate Personal and Professional Challenges
Manage Stress and Preventing Burnout
Build Confidence and Assertiveness
Break Creative Blocks
Quote of the Week
Motivation for the days ahead of you.
“Therapy is about understanding the self that you are. But part of getting to know yourself is to unknow yourself—to let go of the limiting stories you’ve told yourself about who you are so that you aren’t trapped by them, so you can live your life and not the story you’ve been telling about your life.”
— Lori Gottlieb
That's all for now.
Stay creative, my friends—and have a great week!
