In this creative pep talk, I’m sharing a personal confession: I realized I was in the middle of nearly burning myself out because I forgot to let myself have enough fun. We live in a culture that wants us to prioritize working all the time and forget that joy is a necessity, not a luxury. I’m sharing the $0 Joy Gift—the tiny, simple things like a piece of classical music or a laugh over $10 aluminum foil—that can save your soul when you feel your creative spark is being drained dry.
Most burnout advice tells you to “just crush it” or optimize your schedule. But on this channel, we believe in messy, joyful creativity for people who are tired of the pressure to perform.
My Promise to You:
🤦🏻♂️ I’ll never tell you that you have to “earn” your joy through high performance.
🤷🏻♂️ I won’t ask you to ignore your need for play to fit a rigid corporate system.
😁 I will never treat your need for a creative sanctuary as a failure of discipline.
What we’re exploring in this episode:
✨ The Irony of Burnout: Why it’s so easy to give advice and so hard to remember to take it.
🎶 The $0 Joy Gift: How tiny things—like a piece of music or a laugh over $10 aluminum foil—can save your soul.
🧠 The Aptitude Trap: Why being “analytical” can sometimes lead you down a rabbit hole of exhaustion.
💖 The “Importance” Reframe: A reminder that your creativity matters because you matter.
Sound good? If this resonates, subscribe to join our rebellion against the “shoulds” and the pressure to perform.
And if you want a safe space to explore this way of being with others, the door to our next free Creativity Circle is open. (Don’t forget to confirm your subscription!) We meet again on March 21.
Want more tips? Check out this playlist with all my previous Creative Pep Talks!
Get in Touch
I’d love to hear your feedback, questions, and experience with these ideas! Send me a note at fycuriosity.com, or contact me on Instagram, or Bluesky.
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Transcript: Joy is the Antidote to Burnout
Please note: This is an unedited transcript, provided as a courtesy, and reflects the actual conversation as closely as possible. Please forgive any typographical or grammatical errors.
Nancy Norbeck [00:00:06]:
Welcome to Follow Your Curiosity. Ordinary people, extraordinary creativity. Here’s how to get unstuck. I’m your host creativity coach, Nancy Norbeck. Let’s go. You know, that saying all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy? Yeah, me too. And you know, we hear that all the time when we’re kids, especially, We don’t hear it so much when we’re adults. And I think especially in Western culture, especially in The US, it’s because a lot of our culture wants us to forget that.
Nancy Norbeck [00:00:38]:
Our culture wants us to prioritize working all the time and wants us to forget that having fun is really good for us and that burning out is really bad for us. And I know this sounds obvious, but I hope that you’ll bear with me because I’m telling you this for a reason. And it’s because I am realizing right now that I am in the middle of nearly burning myself out, and it’s because I have forgotten to let myself have enough fun. Now I realize the irony of this, and that’s why I’m telling you. Because I want you to realize that this is hard. Right? Even I forget sometimes to take my own advice, which is much more common than you would think. It happens to so many people. It’s really, really easy.
Nancy Norbeck [00:01:32]:
It is so easy to give the wisdom and hand out the advice. It’s often so hard to remember to take it ourselves. But I’m telling you this because I want you to remember, especially now that it is spring and at least here in the Northeast, spring is finally attempting to spring after a long and in many ways, really difficult winter, weather wise and in other ways, that getting in touch with and hanging on to your joy is so important. And I know that that can sound hard and it can sound really privileged, but I want you to hear it because even the tiniest little bits of joy can make the biggest difference. To give you an example, when I realized how much I have been letting my left brain run the show and how much it is draining me dry, one of the first things I did was just pull out a piece of classical music that I really like and listen to it when I crawled into bed last night. That is simple. It’s easy. You can pull something like that up on YouTube and give yourself that little gift for next to no money, whether you have a music subscription or not.
Nancy Norbeck [00:02:50]:
And it only takes a few minutes, and it can be really, really good for your soul. Now maybe classical music isn’t your thing. Whatever it is that you love, By the same token, I had an experience a little bit before Christmas when I was in the grocery store looking at aluminum foil, the most mundane thing ever. And I was there with another woman who was having the same reaction to the price on the shelf that I was, which was, how on earth can aluminum foil be $10? Now it was a very big roll, and that was part of the explanation. But the two of us were standing there with the same looks on our faces, and we burst out laughing, not at the price, but because we were both standing there going, what is happening right now? And we had a little conversation about it. And then after we wandered off, we ran into each other again in a different aisle and started laughing as soon as we saw each other. This is the kind of joy that costs no one anything. It is human interaction, which is also really, really good for you.
Nancy Norbeck [00:03:50]:
And it made both of our days even though it was over something stupid. These little moments are the kind of joy that helps us get through all of the other crazy that’s going on in our lives. They cost us nothing. They are genuine connection and they make a huge, huge difference to what’s going on inside of us and to our resilience and to the way that we manage to get on in the world and keep ourselves from burning out. Now, yes, there is more that you can do. I have been fascinated in the last few days at looking at some old aptitude testing that I had done that indicates the ways in which my brain is really different from a lot of other people’s. It explains so much to me. And it says that while I can be super analytical, it’s not good for me to do too much of that.
Nancy Norbeck [00:04:41]:
And that is a rabbit hole that I tend to fall down, and that is how I got where I am right now. It might be different for you. Aptitude testing, no lie, really expensive. But there are other ways that you probably can figure out what works well for you and what doesn’t without spending a whole pile of money. And if you’ve noticed those tendencies in yourself, listen to them. Again, I get it. It’s hard. Because the culture pushes us in certain ways, and we push ourselves in certain ways because we really wanna get this thing done.
Nancy Norbeck [00:05:12]:
That’s how I got here. And we get in our own way. So this is just a friendly reminder to take joy where you find it. Go out for a walk, get into nature, listen to some music, dance to what’s playing on the radio. It can be so simple. Just don’t forget to do it because it makes such a big difference, and it can literally help to bring you back to life. And when you do it on a regular basis, even if it’s only for a few minutes here and there, it can help keep you from landing in the scary places that we don’t wanna go. So your creativity is important.
Nancy Norbeck [00:05:49]:
I know I say that all the time. I am having the reminder, so you get it today too. It’s important. Make time for it, make space for it because you are important. We need you in whatever capacity you are here to be a part of our world. We need you. You are important. Don’t forget that because we’re all important.
Nancy Norbeck [00:06:10]:
As the Doctor says in nine hundred years of time and space, I’ve never met anyone who wasn’t important before. And I really believe that that’s true. So go be important. Go be joyful. Go be creative and enjoy because I think that’s why we’re here. Thanks much. Give it a try. Let me know what happens, and I’ll see you around.
Nancy Norbeck [00:06:30]:
If you’re tired of thinking about answering a creative call, but never actually doing it, come join me for an hour and start feeling like yourself again. The follow your curiosity creativity circle is a safe, welcoming, and encouraging environment where we send the shoulds and inner critics off to summer camp where they’re kept busy rather than getting in our way. You can find it at the link in your podcast app. See you there, and see you next week. Follow Your Curiosity is produced by me, Nancy Norbeck, with music by Joseph McDade. If you like Follow Your Curiosity, please subscribe, rate, and review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. And don’t forget to tell your friends. It really helps me reach new listeners.