Creative Spring Cleaning

How to Gentle Parent Yourself After a Season of Survival

Lately, I’ve been pouring every ounce of myself into building something that’s been living in the back of my mind for longer than I care to admit.

A vision, a calling. Something that feels bigger than just a brand, bigger than just a business plan. It's the slow, messy act of building a home for the kind of creative work I've always wanted to give the world.

For months, my days blurred into late nights. Hours spent stitching ideas together, planting seeds no one could see yet. I became consumed; not in a glamorous, romantic way, but in a way that sometimes made me forget what it felt like to just be a person. To come up for air. To let the sunlight touch my skin instead of just the blue light of my laptop.

At first, the solitude felt sacred.

It felt like devotion.

But slowly…quietly, that solitude hardened into something heavier.

Winter has a way of doing that.

And if I'm honest? It wasn't just the building that isolated me.

It was the slow, creeping fog of seasonal depression. The kind that creeps in without warning.

The kind that convinces you you're lazy, unmotivated, uninspired. When really, you're just surviving the weight of colder, darker days.

The colder it got outside, the smaller my world became.

I shrank into my routines. I isolated myself under the guise of “focus.”

I told myself I was just grinding but in reality, I was quietly disappearing from my own life.

And now, standing at the threshold of spring, I'm realizing something I hadn't before:

Emerging isn't just about getting back to work. It's about coming back to yourself.

It’s about thawing out the parts of you that forgot how to hope.

Why We Need "Creative Spring Cleaning" (For Real)

We talk a lot about spring cleaning our closets, our homes, our calendars. But we rarely talk about spring cleaning our lives as creatives.

During winter; especially for those of us who wrestle with seasonal depression, our creativity can start to feel heavy, cluttered, even unreachable.

We collect dust:

• Dreams we’ve quietly buried.

• Self-doubt that grew roots during the darker months.

• Fear that we’ve somehow “fallen behind” because we weren’t operating at 100%.

But here’s the truth:

Survival is a form of resilience. Rest is part of the process. Dormancy is nature’s way of preparing for a new season.

Creativity needs breathing room.

It needs new light, softer expectations, space to expand.

And spring in all its messy, beautiful rebirth, offers us a chance to clear space not to perfect ourselves, but to simply find ourselves again.

You’re not late.

You’re not broken.

You’re blooming, even if it’s happening underground where no one can see it yet.

Creative Spring Cleaning Checklist

1. Declutter Your Creative Mind

Let it all out. Every whisper of self-doubt, every half-formed dream. Write it down. Get it out of your brain and onto paper where you can see it.

Then, separate them:

• Seeds I Want to Plant (Ideas, goals, projects that still spark something inside you)

• Weeds I Need to Pull (Habits, narratives, or obligations that no longer serve your creative spirit)

This isn't an audit. It's a rebirth.

2. Tidy Up Your Creative Space

Your physical space is a mirror of you.

Take one small action such as, clearing your desk, swapping out your journal, opening a window.

You don’t need a Pinterest-perfect office. You just need a space that gives,

"You are welcome here. You belong here. It's safe to create again."

3. Reconnect with Your Creative Community

Isolation lies to you.

It convinces you that you’re forgotten. That nobody cares. That your art doesn’t matter.

• Counter that lie with connection even if it feels vulnerable.

• Reach out to one person you trust. Share something unfinished, messy, in-progress.

• Attend that event you were nervous about.

Let yourself be seen as you are not as you think you have to be.

You’re not too late. You’re not too far gone.

You’re still in it.

4. Gentle Parent Your Spring Goals

Not goals fueled by panic or comparison.

Goals fueled by hope. Curiosity. Ambition.

Instead of "I have to finish this by May," try:

• "I want to create something that makes me feel alive."

• "I want to explore a new medium without expectations."

• "I want to spend more days in wonder and fewer days in worry."

Let your creative goals be love letters, not marching orders.

A Season of Becoming (The Deepest Truth)

The truth is: Winter didn’t break you.It preserved you. It taught you what mattered when the noise fell away. It showed you that even in the dark, your creative fire never fully went out. It just needed tending.

Emerging now isn’t about rushing back to productivity. It’s about slowly, bravely, choosing yourself again. Choosing hope when it feels easier to stay hidden. Choosing to see your creativity not as something you owe the world, but as something sacred you get to nurture.

Becoming isn’t glamorous.

It’s messy notes. Tiny victories. Days where the only win is that you kept going.

This spring, I'm choosing to believe in quiet miracles: The ones happening inside me before the world can see the flowers. The ones that start when I clear the space, light the candle, send the text, scribble the first messy idea in a notebook.

You don't have to be blooming visibly to be growing beautifully. You don't have to "feel better" overnight. You just have to keep choosing yourself, one day at a time.

A Soundtrack for Your Creative Spring Cleaning

Because every season of becoming deserves a soundtrack.

I put together a curated Spotify playlist to accompany you as you clear space, reconnect with yourself, and breathe new life into your creative spirit.

Here’s the playlist to help guide you through this new season:

What’s one creative seed you’re planting this spring?

If you're thawing out slowly, welcome.

You're right on time.

Kaitlyn