Creative Burnout Is Real — and The Art of Coming Back to Yourself

What Joshua Roman and MUSE Storytelling Taught Me About Creative Recovery

By Shawn Maus

There’s a phrase I’ve been hearing a lot lately — creative burnout. It’s that quiet, invisible exhaustion that sneaks up on artists, writers, musicians — even people who don’t think of themselves as creative. It’s not laziness, and it’s not lack of talent. It’s what happens when the joy that once fueled your work starts flickering out.

Recently, I listened to an NPR interview with cellist Joshua Roman — once a prodigy performing on the world’s grandest stages. By thirty, he was traveling the globe, living every musician’s dream. Then came the pandemic. And with it, long COVID. Suddenly, his body and his music betrayed him. He couldn’t play. Couldn’t find the spark that had always been second nature.But through that silence, he discovered something deeper: the courage to rebuild his relationship with creativity itself — one note, one breath, one small act of joy at a time.

That story resonated deeply with me.

The Quiet Crash

I know that crash all too well. Last year, I hit a wall while trying to finish a TV pilot I’d been commissioned to write. I told myself I was just tired — one more rewrite, one more late night, and I’d break through. But the words stopped coming. The joy was gone.

For months, I stared at pages that felt hollow. I questioned my talent. My purpose. My calling. Was this the end of my creative run — or just the space between breaths?

Reigniting the Spark

Then I attended the Story First Summit hosted by the incredible team at MUSE Storytelling — a community of filmmakers and storytellers who believe story isn’t just something you tell; it’s something you live.

Something shifted there. I stopped chasing perfection and started listening again — to people, to stories, to the quiet rhythm of why I fell in love with storytelling in the first place.

When I came home, everything began to move again:

• I cracked the story for the pilot that had haunted me for a year.

• Re-developed an original TV series I’d shelved.

• Wrote scripts for two fundraising galas.

• Submitted a new play to Cincinnati LAB Theatre and the Fringe Festival.

• Rebuilt this very website you’re reading.

• And picked up my camera again to learn cinematography — to see stories through new light.

  
  

I owe a lot of that renewal to the wisdom and warmth of the MUSE Storytelling community. Their mantra — “Lead with heart, not ego” — reminded me that creativity begins not with striving, but with listening.

Finding the Flow Again After Creative Burnout

Creative burnout isn’t about losing creativity. It’s about losing connection — to yourself, your audience, your why.

Joshua Roman found healing through slowing down and rediscovering the love of simply playing. I found it through story and community.

Maybe for you, it’s gardening. Walking. Cooking. Listening to the hum of life without the pressure to produce.

When the muse goes silent, she’s not abandoning you. She’s whispering:

“Rest. Listen. Live.”

Because sometimes, the best way to return to your art is to step away long enough to remember who you are outside of it.

Your Turn

Have you ever experienced creative burnout — even if you don’t think of yourself as an artist? What helped you find your way back?

Share your story in the comments or drop me a note — I’d love to hear it.

Because creativity isn’t just what we make — it’s how we find our way home.