Good news! When you can't make yourself want to make, you might not be blocked. The well's just run dry.

signature system Recipe Kim (launching soon)

What if the thing most of us call 'blocked' is actually something else entirely.

What if it's empty.

A well that's run dry, and no amount of Stephen Pressfield (butt-on-the-chair) tough love seems to help.

I know this EMPTY feeling. I just haven't felt it in a long while.

About eighteen years ago (how has it been eighteen?), I was a licensed artist. Prints, fabric, stationery. But at the same time, our son Bryce was struggling with addiction. It went on for eleven years.
Praise God…after more than a few miracles and many mishaps, he found his way through. He'd be the first to tell you it wasn't him. ♡

Somewhere in all of that Mama-fear, I couldn't pick up a brush. Couldn't make myself want to. The creative part of me seemed to disappear.

The internet was newish (hard to recall a time we couldn't google), and somewhere on it I found the phrase 'creative rut.'
My brain grabbed onto that so fast. Maybe because having a name for something makes it feel less lonely. That went on for eight months.

Then one day, I picked up my camera (with no clue how to use it) and went on a walk. Took a few photos. Loaded them into Photoshop, added a texture, and something clicked.

I haven't felt that creatively empty since.

SIGNATURE RECIPE - TAFFETA (launching soon)

I think there's a reason. It took me a while to see it.

For years, photography felt like the thing that saved me. It did, but not in the way I thought.

What actually happened was harder to see at the time. Every 'hard season,' I'd make or learn what I could.

When John was diagnosed with leukaemia, we moved three hours from home for his treatment. 'Plan to spend the summer with us,' said the sweetest nurse. Instead, summer became fall, then winter. My work became Groundhog day treks back and forth to the hospital. But in this… I had my camera. I had my notebook. I had hours of online courses I took in the long, quiet stretches. (Along with some epic Netflix binge sessions of course.)

I started writing in the waiting rooms. Just for me. Filled so many notebooks.
Morning pages… I called braindumps at the time.

I didn't see it as a pattern then. The truth is I can’t notdo this thing I do. Even in difficult seasons.

Then 2020 came. We were all home. Strange, but peaceful for an introvert like me. I launched the Inner Circle, a year of weekly photo and print projects. I still have no idea how I pulled that off. Then I bought a Cricut … OBSESSED. Cutting, layering, making with my hands.

And underneath all of that… another thread.

Way back when I picked up my camera, I also stumbled into Photoshop. I had to learn it. So I learned it, and then I taught it. Years later, Lightroom. Same pattern.

Every new thing I find, there’s some piece of technology that comes with it. Learn, then teach.
Another pattern.
I just kept following the spark.

SIGNATURE RECIPE - EARTH STORY (launching soon)

And then …a few years back, I noticed my pattern.

I'm a seasonal creative.

In winter, photography loses its pull. The light is less, the flowers, not so much. The snow is pretty, but it's so freaking cold here I don't dare take my beautiful Nikon out. So I turn inward. Longer morning journaling sessions. I learn new apps. I design websites. I make things with my hands. The Cricut comes out. The printers hum.

Then spring arrives and I'm reaching for the camera again. It's literally happening right now. That magic light on the dark room wall. Blossoms, oh please dear God, soon. Peonies and poppies in summer. A gift every single time.

I didn't decide to be a winter writer. I noticed it after years of the same pattern. Something calls, I follow. It's really as simple as that.

Though it didn't always feel that way.

One day I looked around the studio. The printers, the Cricuts, the supplies (so many supplies)... I thought. What have I done? How did I spend all this money on machines I'm not using?

The answer came slowly. I just wasn't in that season of making.

The Cricuts, the printers, the journals…they all have their time.

Photography, writing, making something with my hands. Journaling, designing. I follow what calls.

And they feed each other. Hours at the desk send me outside. Time outside changes how I see things through a lens. Making something with my hands is one of the best feelings I know.

If you're feeling 'stuck' or in a 'rut,' could it be that you're simplyempty, notblocked?

Try another path. One you've explored before. Maybe one you've forgotten. Photography, design, writing, gardening, journaling…

Knowing my readers, you've got more than one.

It might surprise you. A few months on, you'll find yourself back at the first thing, in love all over again.

Is it time for the next season?

Something forgotten or something entirely new you'd like to explore?

xx Kim

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Until next time… Happy beautiful new week.

xx Kim

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