You sit down to create.
The blank page stares back. Your hands hover. And that familiar voice starts up: Who do you think you are? This won’t be good enough. Remember what happened last time?
You’ve been calling it a creative block. A wall. An enemy keeping you from your work.
But what if I told you it’s actually your nervous system trying to keep you safe?
Your Inner Critic Isn’t the Villain
Here’s what we get wrong about creative blocks: we treat them like external obstacles we need to bulldoze through. We shame ourselves for being “stuck” or “lazy.” We wait for motivation to magically appear.
But a creative block isn’t actually blocking your creativity. It’s your mind’s way of protecting you from something that feels dangerous: judgment, failure, visibility, or emotional exposure.
Your inner critic: that harsh voice cataloguing everything wrong with your work: isn’t sabotaging you. It’s your nervous system’s attempt to shield you from the vulnerability that creation requires.
When you were younger, maybe sharing your ideas led to criticism. Maybe being visible meant being targeted. Maybe making mistakes wasn’t safe.
Your brain remembers.
And now, even decades later, when you sit down to write that blog post or start that painting or share your voice, your protective systems activate. Not because you’re broken. Because they’re doing exactly what they evolved to do.
How Self-Protection Disguises Itself as “I Can’t Create”
Understanding how to overcome creative block starts with recognizing what’s actually happening beneath the surface.
When fear kicks in, your nervous system prioritizes survival over exploration. Your attention narrows toward threats instead of possibilities. The curiosity and playfulness that creativity needs? They get shut down.
This shows up as:
Perfectionism : If you never finish, you never risk being judged for the finished thing.
Procrastination : If you delay, you delay the possibility of disappointment.
Comparison : If you focus on how much better everyone else is, you have a reason not to try.
Overthinking : If you’re stuck planning and researching, you’re protected from the messiness of actually making something.
Exhaustion : If you’re too depleted, no one can expect you to create.
None of these are character flaws. They’re adaptive responses. Your nervous system floods your body with cortisol and adrenaline, putting you in a state where brainstorming and imagination become nearly impossible.
You’re not experiencing a creative block. You’re experiencing a safety crisis.
The Protection Becomes the Problem
Here’s the paradox: the very mechanisms designed to keep you safe end up keeping you small.
When you label your creative block as something external: as a mysterious force beyond your control: you give away your power. You wait for it to lift instead of asking what it’s trying to tell you.
Meanwhile, the inner critic keeps feeding you stories:
You’re not a real artist. You don’t have anything original to say. Someone else already did this better. You’ll embarrass yourself.
And because these stories feel so real, you believe them. You avoid the work. You stay quiet. You tell yourself you’ll create “when you feel ready.”
But here’s the truth: you won’t feel ready until you feel safe.
What Your Block Is Actually Asking For
Once you stop fighting your creative block and start listening to it, everything shifts.
Instead of “Why can’t I create?” ask “What part of me needs protection right now?”
You might discover you need:
Rest : Your nervous system is depleted and needs regulation before it can access creativity again.
Emotional safety : You need reassurance that making something imperfect won’t lead to rejection or shame.
Permission to be a beginner : You need to remember that all creation starts messy and uncertain.
Connection to meaning : You need to reconnect with why this work matters to you, beneath external validation.
Smaller steps : You need to break the creative act into pieces small enough that your nervous system can tolerate the vulnerability.
Boundaries : You need to protect your creative space from judgment, both external and internal.
When you address the underlying need: when you help your nervous system feel regulated and safe: creativity naturally reemerges. Because it was never actually gone. It was just hiding until it felt safe to come out.
How to Overcome Creative Block (Without Forcing It)
This isn’t about pushing through or “just doing it anyway.” It’s about gently shifting the conditions so your nervous system stops perceiving creation as a threat.
1. Name what you’re actually afraid of
Get specific. “I’m afraid this won’t be good” is vague. “I’m afraid my sister will think I’m being dramatic and dismiss my feelings” is workable information.
2. Validate the fear instead of arguing with it
Your inner critic says This is terrible. Instead of fighting it, try: “I hear you. You’re trying to protect me from being hurt. Thank you.”
3. Create for an audience of one
Write to a specific person who loves and gets you. Paint for the version of yourself who needs this. Make it for someone safe.
4. Lower the stakes radically
You’re not making art. You’re just playing with colors for ten minutes. You’re not writing a blog post. You’re just putting words on a page no one ever has to see.
5. Focus on the next smallest action
Not “finish the painting.” Just “put one brushstroke on the canvas.” Not “write the whole post.” Just “write one bad sentence.”
6. Check in with your body
When the block appears, where do you feel it? Tightness in your chest? Tension in your shoulders? Breathe into that space before returning to the work.
7. Give yourself what younger you needed
If you needed permission to be messy, give yourself that. If you needed someone to say “this is good enough,” say it to yourself now.
The Path Back to Yourself
Here’s what I want you to know: your inner critic isn’t your enemy. Your creative blocks aren’t evidence that you’re not meant to create.
They’re information. They’re protective responses from a nervous system that’s been doing its best to keep you safe.
The work isn’t to silence the critic or force your way through the block. The work is to build enough safety: internal and external: that your nervous system can relax. That creation can stop feeling like a threat and start feeling like an invitation.
You don’t need to wait until you’re fearless. You just need to learn how to create while afraid, in small enough steps that your system can tolerate the vulnerability.
This is what we explore in my Unfold Session: gently untangling where your blocks are actually coming from and rebuilding the safety you need to create freely. And if you’re ready to go deeper, Unapologetically You offers six months of support as you reclaim your creative voice and learn to express yourself without apology.
I’ve also created a Gentle Guide for Deep-Feeling Creatives that walks you through exactly how to work with your inner critic instead of against it. It’s filled with prompts and practices for days when the block feels overwhelming.
Your creativity isn’t broken. It’s just waiting for you to make it safe to come out.
And I promise you: it’s still there.
Soulfully, Maria.
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