The Creative Goo: Sitting with Self-Doubt and Stagnation

Lately, I’ve been stuck in the creative goo—that murky space where motivation is a long-lost friend and ideas feel like a wet map that got let out in the rain. When this happens, the natural instinct is usually to fight it… push through, arg! After all, who wants to work with an uninspired art director :-( But I’m learning that the resistance only deepens the stuckness.

What if stagnation isn’t the enemy but part of the process? Like a caterpillar dissolving into bug soup before becoming something new, sometimes we need stillness before transformation. Creativity isn’t about constant output—it’s about pausing, questioning, and making space for something unexpected to emerge. It’s about the inbetween, like the out-breath in meditation.

Instead of forcing inspiration, I’m using this season of doubt as a time for reflection. What’s working? What’s draining me? What do I need to release to create space for something new? The answers come slowly, but as I let the goo be, clarity rises—not through force, but through trust. Trust in the process, and the natural cycles.

If you’re in the goo, don’t rush to escape it. Sit with it. Let it teach you. Growth doesn’t happen despite the stuck moments—it happens because of them. And when the time comes, you’ll emerge—probably a little weirder, maybe with wings—but definitely with a clearer sense of what truly aligns with your spirit and fuels your growth. Because in the end, bug soup isn’t where creativity goes to die—it’s where the transformation begins. Get ready to be a sparkly butterfly ♡