Healing Burnout with Simple Creative Acts

Burnout doesn’t always begin with exhaustion. Sometimes, it starts with ambition.

For many women in STEM, the drive to excel can slowly shift into overdrive. What begins as passion becomes pressure. What once felt purposeful starts to feel heavy.

On the Growing Tall Poppies podcast, I talked with Dr. Natalie Green about this experience, and how creative wellness can offer a pathway back to yourself. We explored the invisible load women carry, the neuroscience of creativity, and the importance of giving yourself permission to pause.

A Career Built on Structure

Like many women in science, I began with curiosity. In high school, I loved both biology and art, but my parents encouraged me to choose the practical path. Science, they said, would lead to stable work.

They were right in some ways. My career moved through a master’s, a PhD, and a postdoc in molecular biology. I worked in government, reviewing grants and supporting innovation partnerships, before moving into medical devices at StarFish Medical.

There, I found myself working across all stages of product development, from napkin sketches to market approval. The work was meaningful and precise. But when the pandemic hit, everything intensified.

Our team was contracted to develop emergency ventilators. Deadlines were tight, and the stakes were high. I set up a desk in my bedroom, reviewed documents late into the night, and answered calls at all hours. The boundary between home and work disappeared.

At first, I told myself it was temporary. But when my art studio began to gather dust and I could no longer bring myself to paint, I knew something had shifted.

When Creativity Disappears

For years, painting had been my way to decompress. During those months, even that felt impossible.

That was when I began to explore art therapy. Not as an artist, but as a person looking for relief. The process took away the pressure to make something beautiful. Instead, it offered permission to create without expectations.

Simple sketches, collages, and scribbles became moments of release. There was mindfulness in each line. Gradually, I began to feel lighter. The creative process helped me rest my nervous system and reconnect with my sense of self.

It was through that process that I discovered a new direction: creative wellness coaching. I began to study the neuroscience of creativity and learned how creative expression can shift the brain from an anxious, overactive state into one of calm awareness.

Watch the Full Conversation

You can watch my full interview on Growing Tall Poppies here:

The Science Behind Creativity

In our conversation, we discussed how creativity is both scientific and emotional. When you are in a heightened stress state, your brain’s fight-or-flight response makes creativity nearly impossible. The prefrontal cortex, which supports problem-solving and focus, becomes flooded by stress hormones.

Simple creative acts, like doodling or colouring to your breath, help shift the brain into a state of flow. The hand movements, attention to rhythm, and focus on colour activate different neural pathways. These small creative breaks help regulate the nervous system, giving you a physical way to feel calmer.

Creativity, in this sense, is not about performance. It is a wellness practice.

Permission to Pause

One of the hardest lessons for high-achieving women is learning to rest without guilt.

Many of the women I work with feel they must earn their rest by being productive. Even when they take a break, their mind keeps running. They think about what they should be doing next, or how they will make up for lost time later.

But rest is not wasted time. It is recovery time. Without it, the mind and body cannot integrate what they have been through. The idea that we must always push harder is not resilience—it is depletion.

Giving yourself permission to pause is the first step toward creative recovery.

Small Creative Practices

I shared a few of the activities I use with clients to help them reconnect with themselves.

1. The Body Scan Drawing

Draw a simple figure outline, like a gingerbread person. Then, use colours and shapes to represent how you feel in different areas of your body. Where do you hold tension? What colours feel peaceful? Over time, you begin to notice patterns in where your stress lives and how it shifts.

2. The Bridge Drawing

Draw two shores. On one side, include the things you want to leave behind—stress, overwork, perfectionism. On the other side, draw what you want to move toward—balance, confidence, calm. Then draw the bridge between them. What obstacles appear? Is the bridge sturdy or shaky? What does the water below look like?

The reflection afterwards often brings insight. One client laughed when she realized she had drawn herself crossing dangerous waters, even though she could not swim. These moments of humour and awareness reveal what the mind already knows but has not yet said aloud.

3. The Personal Solar System

Place yourself at the centre of a page as the sun. Around you, draw circles representing the people and commitments in your life. Who is close to your orbit? Who has drifted farther away? Who might you want to bring closer—or release?

This simple exercise makes support systems visible. It helps identify where to draw new boundaries and where to reconnect.

Boundaries and Balance

For many women in STEM, burnout is not caused by a lack of capability, but by the weight of expectation. The belief that we must be dependable, productive, and composed at all times leaves little room for rest.

I often remind clients that boundaries are not barriers; they are structures that protect your energy. Learning to say “not right now” or “I need help” is not weakness—it is wisdom.

Balance does not mean doing everything equally. It means understanding what truly matters and honouring your limits.

Reconnecting Through Nature

I often suggest my clients combine creativity with nature. A quiet walk through a forest or along the ocean can be deeply restorative. For me, walking my dog on the forest path near my home has become a daily ritual. It is my moving meditation.

You do not have to be still to be mindful. Sometimes, the simplest act of walking, noticing light through trees, or listening to birdsong can reset your nervous system.

From Burnout to Growth

When you are recovering from burnout, it is easy to think you need to bounce back. But growth after burnout is not about returning to who you were—it is about becoming someone new.

You learn to spot your early warning signs. You stop measuring your worth by your output. You begin to listen to your body and build internal resources like self-trust and compassion.

As I shared on the podcast, the goal is not perfection. It is presence.

A Gentle Next Step

If this conversation resonates with you, I invite you to explore:

• The Creative Shift, my weekly newsletter that shares short creative practices and reflections.
• The 5-Day Creative Reset Challenge, a free series of five-minute art and mindfulness activities to help you reconnect with yourself.

You do not need to wait until burnout to begin. You can start today—with one colour, one breath, or one small act of creativity.

Because recovery begins the moment you give yourself permission to pause.