25 Things I’ve Learned About Creativity in 2025
(A year that truly tested my motivation, commitment, and trust in the unknown)
This year has been a truly wild experiment in learning to expand my creative capacity and ride the rollercoaster of trust and unknown. Summer of 2024, I moved to Los Angeles for an immersive design job— it was short-term, but the intention was permanence. I took a leap. That company crashed and burned after two months, but I decided to stay and soak in the creative energy of Los Angeles, a city that had been calling me for a while. I hustled, I networked. I got a literary agent and a book deal (!). I got commissioned to write a new play!
Then the fires shut down the city and I made no money for two months at the same time I had to pay $10,000 in taxes, thanks to my new freelance life. I wiped out my savings account.
I taught creativity workshops on five different Virgin cruises. I led writers rooms for a new Jon Favreau project. The play turned out amazing, and I felt so damn proud. A screenplay I wrote was a finalist for a big competition, and I got to pitch it to Tim McGraw’s production company. Possibilities were just outside the door.
I didn’t win the competition; Tim passed. I got horribly sick with pneumonia. My book deal got canceled when the publisher went out of business. I was carrying about $15,000 in debt on credit cards. I started planning to move back to Santa Fe— LA was too expensive, and I felt lonely and alone.
Then a dream job fell out of the sky, working for director Chloé Zhao. I said yes and stayed in LA and started back up on the rollercoaster, traveling with Chloé to Italy for a project, walking the red carpet with her for her new film, Hamnet.
Red carpet, baby.
Then that project disappeared (also, all of my luggage was stolen on the way home from Rome 😂).
I had to laugh. Nothing is permanent or certain, except the unknown. What truly matters in this life? The answer I always return to is: my ability to create. The love I can share with the world by crafting experiences, stories, art that generate collective energy, awe, connection. But finding the will to create, the inspiration, the trust can be really challenging, especially when so much in life can feel uncertain and scary.
These are 25 things I’ve learned this year that I’m taking into 2026 and beyond.
Fear chokes the creative channel. When you start to feel afraid, take a breath and ask, “What if it all works out?”
Make the body comfortable. Get a blanket, sit in a comfortable chair. Energy flows when the body can relax.
Follow the muse. If you feel excited about an idea, grab onto it and take a little time to explore it (even if you feel like you should be working on something else). If you don’t, the idea will move on.
Train the brain and body to create through external signals. Coffee, a certain physical location, a playlist (I always listen to “Focus Flow” on Spotify and now it’s Pavlovian)
Asking for divine support does help. When you’re stuck, ask the universe/god/muse for help or a sign about what direction to go. You don’t have to do it all alone.
Get into conversation with the energy of the project. It sounds weird, but it really works. Close your eyes and visualize the creative project as its own blob of energy with needs and desires. Ask it what it wants and then let yourself write or speak the answer without thinking.
Break big projects into manageable chunks (i.e. give yourself dopamine hit). Instead of “I have to write a chapter,” try: “In 20 minutes, I’ll write two paragraphs.”
Create your own deadlines and accountability. If you’re creating something for yourself, invent your own deadlines. For my plays, I set up readings a few months out so I have a date to work towards for a new draft.
Mental rehearsal works. Take time to imagine yourself doing the creative work and succeeding, and you’re more likely to actually do it.
Don’t force it. If creativity isn’t flowing, take a breath, relax the body, get up and walk away.
Incubation/hypnagogic brainstorming are powerful AF. I’ve started studying practices of entering trance states to brainstorm. Let me know if you want to learn more— it warrants a longer conversation than in a list!
Sex turns on creativity – and we have to learn to turn it on without external input. I feel so creative when I’m having great sex. I’m also learning how to access that inspiration when I’m not sleeping with anyone else.
Imagine writing for/creating for a lover. This always inspires me, picturing someone I love and/or want to seduce reading what I wrote.
Adopt a persona. If you’re stuck, try being another artist— someone bolder, weirder, braver. Wear their clothes, smoke their cloves.
If you can’t do anything else, just lay down, close your eyes, and imagine. Sometimes I’m too tired to sit at a computer. But daydreaming (with intention) can be just as productive!
Creativity begets more creativity– it’s ok to start with something creative that’s not the thing you most need to accomplish. Warm up the fingers and brain.
Sometimes you need tequila. I don’t drink a lot, and alcohol is definitely not always the answer. However, occasionally when I am very stuck, it does the trick to get the juices flowing.
Jealousy can be a powerful motivator. I’ve started really leaning into jealousy as fuel for me to create my own version of what I’m jealous of.
Places/environments have creative energy – don’t under estimate what you’re getting from (or losing to) your environment. Listen to the energy of the place!
Name your blocks/fears so you can confront them head on. If you spell them out, they lose power.
You always have time to write a poem. I have a regularly practice of writing prayer poems. If I can’t doing anything else, I can write a poem that starts with “a prayer for…” It’s a signal to myself and to the universe that I’m still prioritizing creativity.
Intention matters. When I lead rituals or ceremonies, I set an intention and invite other to do the same. Similarity, set an intention for your daily creative work. You’ll find there’s power in naming what you’re trying to do and why.
Consuming other media/art is good, but do it intentionally, looking for inspiration, not comparison.
If there’s no excitement or turn on for a creative project, ask ‘why’ and see what you can change. Don’t just keep banging your head against the wall. If you’re bored or uninspired, your audience will be too.
Spend time with people who inspire you and whose work/life/energy makes you want to match what they’re bringing into the world.
Happy new year, my loves.
I hope 2026 is full of creative expression, joy, and pleasure.
If you’re in Los Angeles, I’d love to have you join me and my collaborator Sam Sharman for The Creative Turn-On, Feb 1. Come learn and practice turning on your erotic energy in service of your creative power!
