7 Ways to Honour Your Creative Practice in Busy Seasons | Sam Horton

There are seasons where life feels heavier.

Not necessarily harder in a dramatic way. Just fuller. Louder. More demanding. More layered.
Seasons where your days are filled with responsibility, care, decision making, holding, managing, showing up.

And somewhere in all of that, your creativity becomes the thing that gets pushed to the edges.

Not because it doesn’t matter.
Not because you don’t love it.
But because it feels like the soft, sensitive part of you that doesn’t quite fit inside all that weight.

If that’s where you are right now, I want you to know something first.

You are not broken.
You are not behind.
You are not failing at being creative.

You are in a season.

And seasons ask for different shapes of devotion.

Here we explore seven gentle ways to honour your creative practice when life feels full, heavy, or overwhelming.

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Podcast Summary

1. Start with a small, regular artist date

Not a grand plan. Not a perfect ritual. Not a two hour block that never quite happens.

Something small enough that your nervous system doesn’t resist it. Something regular enough that your soul can rely on it.

Twenty minutes once a week. A sketch. A journal page. Sitting with your work and a cup of tea.

This is not about output. It’s about self trust.

It’s about teaching your inner creative self that you will show up, even when life is full.

And that changes everything.

2. Let yourself be held inside a creative community

Creativity was never meant to be a lonely path.

When life feels heavy, we often retreat inward, and our creativity can start to feel fragile, isolated, or even pointless.

Being part of a creative space reminds you that your longing is shared. That your sensitivity is normal. That your creativity is not indulgent or unnecessary, but deeply human.

Let yourself be seen. Let yourself be inspired. Let yourself be reflected.

You don’t have to walk this alone.

3. Dream into the next season of your creative life

Busy seasons shrink our vision. They pull us into survival and maintenance.

So consciously give yourself permission to dream again.

How do you want creativity to live in your future?
What kind of artist are you becoming?
What kind of relationship do you want with your creative self?

Don’t worry about how yet. Just let yourself imagine.

Then take tiny steps in that direction. Not leaps. Not overhauls. Just quiet choices that say, “I’m moving this way.”

4. Place yourself inside a gentle creative container

A short class. A small course. A time bound creative commitment.

Something that gives your creativity something to lean into when your own energy feels thin.

Let yourself be guided for a while. Let others hold the structure.

This is not a distraction from your path. It’s often how your path expands.

5. Let your creative practice change shape

What honoured your creativity five years ago may not fit your life now.

That doesn’t mean you’ve failed. It means you’re evolving.

Maybe your practice becomes softer. Shorter. Simpler. More experimental. Less defined.

Your creativity is alive. It will change with you.

Honouring it means letting it evolve without holding on too tightly or abandoning it.

6. Practise witnessing what you make

Don’t rush past your creations.

Sit with them. Look at them. Feel into them. Ask what they’re showing you.

Your art is not just something you produce. It’s something that speaks back to you.

This is where meaning lives. This is where the soul speaks.

7. Release productivity as the measure of creative worth

Your value as a creative being is not measured by output.

Some seasons are about making.
Some are about resting, listening, reflecting.
Some are about experimenting, making a mess, and letting things be imperfect.

All of that is creative.

You are not behind. You are in a season.

If your creativity has felt distant lately, let this be your permission to soften.

To stop fighting your season.
To stop judging yourself.
To stop trying to force yourself back into a version of you that no longer fits.

Your creativity has not left you.

It’s simply waiting for you to meet it in the shape your life is in now.

And here’s a gentle reflection to sit with:

What would it look like to honour your creativity in a way that supports you, rather than demands from you, in this season of your life?

Let that answer unfold slowly.

There is no rush.

Your creativity is not going anywhere.

It wants to walk with you 🤍

^{Sam Horton}

_{Sam is a Women’s Empowerment Specialist, Artist, Creative Mentor and Spiritual Guide who helps creative women reconnect with their inner truth and reclaim their personal power through intentional creativity and spiritual self-discovery. A former CFO, Sam’s own transformation began after experiencing baby loss, divorce, and burnout—life events that led her on a decade-long healing journey of creative and spiritual awakening.}

_{Today, she blends intuitive coaching with soulful creative practices to support women in turning pain into power and living with deeper meaning, self-trust, and spiritual connection. Through her art, mentoring, podcast, and online offerings, Sam invites women to explore creativity as a sacred, empowering conversation with the soul.}

<sub>Her original paintings—celebrating the strength and softness of the feminine—grace homes as reminders of beauty, resilience, and inner wisdom.

Sam lives on the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, with her daughter and their treasured little dog, where nature, art, and heart guide her every day.</sub>

  

_{Website: https://www.samhorton.co/meet-sam}

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