The Curiosity Rewire: A 4-Step Framework for Creative Recovery
Lessons I learned about healing my mind, my work, and my creative spark the day my identity collapsed.
I stared at the blank journal page, heart pounding, brain locked on “survive” mode.
After nearly two years of nonstop hustle – grinding 7 days a week to pull my business out of a loss – I realized I couldn’t think about creativity at all.
All I could do was keep going, like a hamster on a wheel.
My mind had narrowed to black-and-white: crisis only, no room for imagination.
For months I dismissed the pain of losing my business by overworking, impulse decisions, and dare I say - entrepreneurial pride - but finally I hit a wall. I remember sinking into the chair, hiding my face behind my hands – suddenly crying away from my desk. That afternoon was the turning point. Between the sobs and silence, I let myself feel, really feel the hurt I’d been pushing down.
In that break, a shifting thought came to mind.
I told myself, “It’s okay to hurt. This isn’t a battle to win, it’s a wound to tend.”
In hindsight, I see it clearly: I had to process my emotions, not just intellectualize them.
I began to write not with the intent to produce something perfect, but just to let words pour out. This simple act of honest storytelling – even scribbling messy feelings – literally rewired my brain.
Neuroscience tells us stories help us find meaning in pain.
As Fritz Breithaupt explains, “By telling and retelling a story, we can find meaning in traumatic events… [and] integrate difficult experiences”.
Every word I wrote chipped away at the fear centers in my brain, slowly bringing my rational prefrontal cortex back online.
With time, I noticed the physics of my brain changing. Under chronic stress I had been stuck in fight-or-flight: the amygdala (our fear hub) was on overdrive, and the creative parts of my brain were offline.
Survival mode floods us with cortisol and adrenaline so we focus only on immediate threats – long-term vision and innovation get pushed aside. That’s why, after all those years of just doing, I had nothing new to say or imagine. I felt numb and empty, like the spark inside me had burned out.
But there’s good news: our brains can heal and rewire.
Neuroplasticity is real – our brains grow new connections when we give them a chance. Deep diving into neuroplasticity felt like a lifeline. I learned that even after setbacks, our brain can learn from them and form fresh neural paths.
Creatives aren’t born with a fixed “creative brain”; we make creativity by connecting ideas, one nerve fiber at a time.
So I made a simple decision: every day I would do one small thing to rewire my creativity.
First, I paused. I’d take deep breaths when I caught myself rushing. Just that short break calmed my stress response and let my prefrontal cortex (the CEO of the brain) kick back in, even if for a minute.
Next, I practiced noticing. I’d sit with whatever I felt – grief, anger, hope – and name it without judgment. Sometimes I drew a little icon to match the feeling (a thundercloud for anxiety, a sun for relief). This got me asking questions instead of snarling at my mind. “Why is this popping up?” or “What would a curious friend ask right now?” Those questions opened me up to new perspectives.
Slowly, I formed what I now call the Curiosity Rewire Framework – four key steps to recover creativity from burnout.
It blends practical brain science with the emotional wisdom I learned on my own journey:
Step 1: Pause & Observe. Stop. Breathe. Notice the survival-mode stress without pushing it away. This calms the amygdala so your thinking brain can emerge.
Step 2: Name & Feel. Label what you’re feeling – sadness, fear, exhaustion – and allow yourself to feel it fully. Writing or sketching these emotions activates your brain’s meaning-making networks (like the default-mode network) to process them.
Step 3: Ask & Reframe. Adopt a curious mindset. Ask open questions about your situation (“What if this challenge holds a lesson?”). This engages your executive brain (the prefrontal cortex) to reappraise the narrative. Reframing taps into creativity by linking new ideas in the brain.
Step 4: Create & Iterate. Take a tiny creative action, just for curiosity. Try a doodle, a bold sentence, or a random sound. No pressure on outcome. This playful experimenting strengthens your creative networks and reinforces that making something isn’t all-or-nothing – it can start as a mere whisper of an idea.
Figure: The 4-step Curiosity Rewire Framework – pause, feel, reframe, and create – to gently rebuild creativity after burnout.
At the heart of this framework is a simple truth: “The brain heals when we stop performing and start feeling.”
By moving out of “perform mode” and into honest curiosity, I found myself slowly coming back to life. My blank pages began to fill with messy, meaningful drafts again. Creativity returned as I learned to be friends with my emotions instead of racing past them.
Micro-Challenge
For the next week, try one tiny curiosity habit each day.
For example, set a 5-minute timer and journal one unnoticed feeling or idea. Notice it without judging: maybe gratitude about a smell, or a worry about tomorrow’s meeting. Do this daily and watch how your brain starts making connections again.
(Hint: Record it in the same notebook. Over days, you’ll see threads weaving through your notes. That’s neuroplasticity in action.)
Keep exploring and remember: we’re all recovering from our own kinds of burnout. You can create again.
If this resonated with you, here are 5 ways we can explore and work together:
My Books
Brain and Simple – A guide for entrepreneurs, marketers, and creators who want to understand how the mind makes decisions and apply neuroscience to simplify marketing and influence.
Be Brave, Create – 52 essays for creatives and professionals in the messy middle of life or business, designed to help you heal, reframe, and keep creating through uncertainty.
1:1 Neuroplasticity Coaching
For people who want to rewire habits, narratives, and self-trust.
Schedule here.Brain-Based Marketing Strategy Intensive (3–4 hours)
A deep session to align your message with how the brain makes decisions.
Book your session.Tactical Strategy Session (1 hour)
Quick but brain-savvy strategy boost for creators or solopreneurs.
Grab a slot.Book Me as a Speaker
Bold, brain-based keynotes blending science and soul.
Invite me to speak.