There’s something that artists and creative people talk about, sometimes calling it the “creative bank account” or the “creative well”. The idea is that creative people can’t always be outputting something creative—they also need to be able to take it in. In order to create new work, creative people need sources of inspiration, energy, and fuel for their new work. As much as we’d like to believe everything comes from within, it’s not actually the case. Like everyone, artists rely on outside sources, activities, and changes of scenery to keep fueling ideas and the creative drive. And like everyone, artists also need rest periods. The illustration podcast, Three Point Perspective even had an episode all about this.

This past summer, I suffered a frustrating injury that I feared would destroy my ability to create my illustrations. After weeks of pain in my right thumb and wrist, I finally consulted with a doctor and was diagnosed with De Quervain’s Tenosynovitis. It’s an inflammation of the tendon sheath between the thumb and wrist. It’s also fairly common in parents of babies and toddlers from picking them up so frequently. Between my drawing, writing, picking up my toddler son (and my toddler niece), and some gardening work I had been doing, I had simply over-done it. It hurt to draw. It hurt to hold a pencil or paint brush at all. I couldn’t open jars or easily pick up my son. I was so frustrated I often found myself in tears.

As I waited for my hand and wrist to heal, I reminded myself that there are other creative things I could be doing that don’t involve actually drawing and painting—things that could spark new ideas and give new life to my work. This mindset helped me a lot. And summer was a great time to be having this problem.

I went for hikes and spent time in nature. I did garden activities I was capable of doing, like watering the plants and picking vegetables (with my left hand). I wandered around our local botanic garden, Tower Hill and took in the beautiful flora (and even some fauna). I spent time looking at other people’s work and watched educational workshop videos. It was wonderful to give my body the break and let my mind take in something new.

But, eventually I really did want to get back to actually making art. After a while, when you take enough in, you really need to get something out. It’s like breathing.

After many weeks of icing my wrist, keeping it in a brace, and generally resting, I still didn’t see enough improvement to resume my normal activities. So, I decided to give acupuncture a try. At the very least, it wouldn’t hurt. I found an excellent acupuncturist near me who also happened to be a physical therapist in his previous career and had a lot of experience with my particular injury. I had treatments twice-a-week and he gave me advice on how to care for my injury at home.

To my surprise, within a few short weeks, I was able to use my right hand to start drawing again! And then, I had a lot of new fuel for my creative fire. I even found inspiration from being on the acupuncture table with my eyes closed, resting and meditating. Those quiet times where I had nowhere else to be and nothing else to do lead to some of my best ideas. Sometimes you just have to let your mind be free in order to open the window for new ideas to come in.

While my struggle with having an injured hand and wrist was a huge hinderance to my ability to do my work, it did give me an opportunity to take in some new creative inspiration. Sometimes, our bodies force us to change direction for a while. I was frustrated at first, but I found in some ways, my body was doing me a favor. It told me to slow down, take in something new, and sometimes, take the time to do nothing. It opened up my mind to new ideas and new ways of seeing my creative self. I was able to re-fill my creative well and feel the water flow again.