If You Feel Creatively Dry, Try This One Page

Key Points

• Creativity doesn’t disappear in midlife — it gets buried under responsibility and depletion. What feels like a “block” is often creative dryness that can be gently restored.

• Creative Reflection Pages is a simple 4-step practice (prompt, reflect, create, integrate) that reconnects you to your inner voice through color, symbols, and brief writing.

• Inspiration follows action. Just one page and 10–15 minutes of playful, low-pressure creativity can bring flow, joy, and self-connection back online.

There was a time when creativity came easily. You doodled in the margins. You lost track of time with a sewing needle or paintbrush in hand. You saw ideas everywhere.

Then life happened. Careers. Caregiving. Competing priorities. Your creativity didn’t disappear… but it did go quiet.

That’s why I love using a process I call Creative Reflection Pages (CRP). It’s not about being an artist. It’s about giving your inner self a voice — through color, shape, symbol, and simple language — so that creative flow becomes available again.

And no, it doesn’t require hours of time or a studio full of supplies. In fact, just one page can open the door.

Why Creativity Calls Us Back in Midlife

For many women in their 50s and beyond, there’s a quiet but persistent tug — a yearning to return to the creative parts of themselves they once knew but set aside. After decades of prioritizing others — raising families, building careers, caregiving — something begins to shift. The roles that once defined us start to loosen their grip, and the question rises: What about me?

Creativity becomes more than just a hobby. It becomes a path back to wholeness — to intuitive knowing, emotional expression, and soul satisfaction. It’s not about making “art” — it’s about reclaiming a birthright. A way to play, process, and make meaning in a world that often asked us to be efficient, selfless, and invisible. In this season of life, creativity is how we re-member ourselves.

Why We Feel Creatively Dry (Not Blocked)

When I say “dry” instead of “blocked,” it’s intentional. Creative blocks sound like obstacles we have to push through. But dryness? Dryness is natural. It means something’s been depleted. And what’s dry can be watered. Nourished. Tended. Gently.

Most of us aren’t blocked. We’re tired. over-responsible. overstimulated. Or unsure where to even begin. And instead of waiting for inspiration, what we really need is… permission.

Permission to play. To make messes. To not know. To trust that creativity will return if we just give it a place to land.

A Tiny Experiment You Can Try Today

What if one page was enough to start waking up your creative energy?

This is where the Creative Reflection Pages process comes in. It’s a 4-step invitation to reconnect to yourself — visually and emotionally — in 15 minutes or less.

Here’s today’s invitation:

Prompt: Where did my creativity go… and what does it need to return?

1. Reflect: Write for 2–3 minutes. How does creative dryness feel in your body? When did you last feel lit up and engaged? What are the conditions you’re craving?
2. Create: Use color fields or textures to create a “Before / After” visual. What does dryness look like? What does flow look like? No art skills required — just scribbles and symbols.
3. Integrate: Choose one playful action to take today. Something that might restore moisture to the well.

Materials

Here are 5 simple materials I return to again and again:

• Crayola markers
• Oil pastels
• Watercolor pencil
• Glue stick + collage scraps
• Black ink pen

It’s okay if it’s messy. It’s okay if you feel silly. It’s okay if you don’t “get it” right away. The goal is not perfection — it’s presence.

Let your creativity find you in the doing.

If you give this a try, I’d love to hear what you discover. And if you want more prompts, ideas, and guidance, you can subscribe to my newsletter or explore more on YouTube — where we bring the pages to life each week.

Your creativity isn’t gone. It’s just waiting for you to make the first move.

With gentle encouragement,
Minette

Youtube Video

Transcript

00:00 -> Have you ever opened up a blank page in
00:04 -> your journal and felt nothing? Like that
00:08 -> creative spark was completely gone.
00:11 -> Well, I want to talk a little bit today
00:13 -> about what really happens. Because that
00:15 -> creative spark is never gone. We are all
00:18 -> eminently creative beings, but there are
00:22 -> a variety of things that cause your
00:25 -> creativity to dry up. And that moment
00:29 -> comes when we hit sometimes our 40s, our
00:32 -> 50s, even into our 60s and we start to
00:36 -> wonder what happened to my creativity. I
00:39 -> used to be a creative person. Hi, I'm
00:42 -> Dr. Manette Ryarden and thanks for
00:44 -> stopping by today to
00:47 -> play with this idea a little bit of
00:50 -> where did my creativity go? And for me
00:54 -> personally, it started in about my mid4s
00:57 -> where I realized I was channeling all my
01:01 -> creativity into the holidays, making
01:04 -> remember the days of Martha Stewart
01:06 -> holiday kits. I was making ornaments for
01:09 -> the tree or I was doing crafts with my
01:11 -> kids or lots of my creativity was going
01:15 -> into a combination of raising my kids
01:19 -> and doing fun things with them and into
01:22 -> my business. At the time I owned a
01:24 -> parenting magazine and it took a lot of
01:27 -> time, energy, and creativity. And doing
01:29 -> that with itty bitty kids meant there
01:31 -> was not a lot of time for me. I stopped
01:33 -> journaling. I stopped making art.
01:36 -> And I stopped I realized that I had
01:38 -> stopped doing anything creative just for
01:41 -> me for a really long time. And it
01:44 -> happens to so many women that I meet in
01:47 -> my programs and I see it over and over
01:51 -> again come back with some intention and
01:54 -> practice especially inside our
01:56 -> sisterhood of wisdom and wonder. So I
01:59 -> want to share with you today my creative
02:02 -> reflection pages practice. This is a
02:04 -> simple daily tiny invitation to
02:08 -> reconnect with that creative spark. This
02:11 -> isn't about becoming an artist. This is
02:13 -> about self-care. And so many of us heard
02:17 -> throughout our lifetimes, especially
02:19 -> women of a certain age, spending time on
02:22 -> ourselves is selfish or making time for
02:27 -> art is a waste of time because it
02:29 -> doesn't have any value. If you can't
02:31 -> sell it, what's the point? or I stopped
02:34 -> making art because my parents told me
02:36 -> they wouldn't pay for college or you
02:39 -> can't make a living as an artist so you
02:41 -> got to choose something different. And
02:44 -> when I say artist, dancer, photographer,
02:48 -> writer, there are so many painter
02:51 -> expressions of creativity. And one of my
02:54 -> first questions for you to consider is
02:56 -> where is your creativity showing up in
02:58 -> your life? It may not be showing up on
03:00 -> the page in your journal, but I
03:02 -> guarantee if you look around, it could
03:04 -> be the way that you set your home up. It
03:06 -> could be cooking, maybe a joyful
03:09 -> expression of creativity. It might be
03:12 -> gardening. And it's winter right now, so
03:15 -> not a lot of gardening happening, at
03:16 -> least here in Colorado. But I think
03:20 -> about all the things that got in the way
03:24 -> of me making time for my own creative
03:26 -> practice. Caretaking, career, stress,
03:30 -> parameopause, post-menopause, brain fog,
03:34 -> grief
03:36 -> can stop our creativity and make it feel
03:38 -> like it's completely dried up. being
03:42 -> really stuck in that liinal space where
03:45 -> you're between one thing and another
03:47 -> like from empty nest raising kids to
03:50 -> empty nest is that kind of transition.
03:52 -> Retirement is another one of those big
03:54 -> transitions and our creativity isn't
03:57 -> gone but it does get buried under the
04:00 -> weight of this seemingly endless to-do
04:04 -> list to just keep our lives and our
04:06 -> careers moving forward.
04:09 -> And one of the biggest mistakes that I
04:12 -> see women make, especially women in
04:14 -> their 50s and even in that time right
04:17 -> after retirement, is they're not making
04:20 -> it a priority. Number one, and number
04:22 -> two, there's this mistaken belief, and
04:25 -> this is a myth that I would love to bust
04:27 -> for you, that we need hours and hours of
04:30 -> time. It takes time to pull all the
04:32 -> things out and then put them all away,
04:34 -> and that takes too much energy. I don't
04:36 -> want to. or we say things like, "I'm
04:39 -> waiting for inspiration to strike." But
04:41 -> neuroscience and psychology have both
04:44 -> proven and the science of flow have
04:48 -> shown that inspiration follows action.
04:51 -> It's the same thing like the hardest
04:53 -> part of getting outside for a walk is
04:56 -> not the walk, it's getting up off the
04:58 -> couch and putting your shoes on. As soon
05:00 -> as you're up off the couch and your
05:02 -> shoes on, then out the door you go and
05:05 -> enjoy a beautiful walk. The same thing
05:07 -> is true for our creative practice. It
05:11 -> requires your love, your attention, and
05:14 -> it requires tiny moments of inspiration.
05:17 -> So, I want to share with you today my
05:19 -> creative reflection pages practice so
05:22 -> that it starts to get you back in touch
05:26 -> with your creativity in a way that all
05:30 -> of a sudden you're going to start to
05:31 -> experience these tiny moments of
05:34 -> inspiration instead of waiting for this
05:37 -> big idea. Because I don't know about
05:39 -> you, I'm looking for that daily
05:42 -> courageous act of meeting myself on the
05:44 -> page. I believe that creative reflection
05:48 -> is one of the best things we can do for
05:50 -> ourselves in midlife and beyond to
05:53 -> reconnect to pull back all those
05:56 -> disconnected parts of self. And
05:58 -> creativity is often the first one to go
06:00 -> and the last one to come back and I'd
06:03 -> love to change that for people. So, what
06:05 -> the heck is the creative reflection
06:07 -> pages practice? If you haven't checked
06:10 -> out some of my other videos, there's
06:12 -> some longer introductions to that
06:14 -> practice. I'm going to change my camera
06:15 -> over, but all you need is a piece of
06:19 -> paper, something to write with. You
06:21 -> could even use this for the drawing
06:23 -> part, but I like to have something to
06:27 -> color with here on the page and a
06:31 -> prompt. So what I realized in my own
06:34 -> journey of many failed attempts at
06:37 -> morning pages or other journaling
06:40 -> programs is that sometimes my head needs
06:43 -> the visual more than the verbal or I
06:46 -> don't have three pages to write and I am
06:50 -> so envious of people that have had
06:52 -> morning pages practices for decades. And
06:55 -> then I started really doing my own
06:57 -> creative reflection on my own personal
06:59 -> practice and process. And I've been
07:02 -> doing this process for over a decade.
07:04 -> And what I realized is that I need a
07:07 -> prompt to start. And that prompt is
07:09 -> always a simple question. That question
07:12 -> can just be as easy as how am I today?
07:16 -> Or what would I like my day to feel
07:18 -> like? Or how did my day go today? But
07:21 -> today we're using the prompt, where did
07:23 -> my creativity go? And what does it need
07:26 -> to return? Even if your head doesn't
07:29 -> know, I guarantee that your body knows,
07:31 -> your heart knows. So I did some
07:33 -> reflection. So step two, step one is a
07:36 -> prompt. Step two is take a few minutes
07:38 -> to reflect in writing a few words, a few
07:42 -> bullet points, a few little doodles to
07:45 -> capture the idea. And my answer to this,
07:48 -> it needs my attention and love. It needs
07:50 -> me to make time for it. Put time in my
07:53 -> calendar. I want to name other ways that
07:56 -> I'm creative. And my husband was saying
07:58 -> to me today, you've been cooking so much
08:00 -> more lately. And I'm like, it's another
08:02 -> creative expression. It's also winter,
08:04 -> and I like to cook more in winter. It
08:07 -> also needs simplicity. And for me, when
08:09 -> I started this practice a decade ago, I
08:12 -> had to get back into beginner's mind
08:14 -> because for me, this is about self-care.
08:17 -> It's not selfish or indulgent.
08:19 -> And it's not art. And when now don't get
08:23 -> me wrong, I love to make pretty art. I
08:25 -> sew. I paint. I love to mix media. I
08:29 -> love art journaling, junk journaling. I
08:31 -> love all the things. Mostly I love
08:33 -> painting and I love making big paintings
08:35 -> of animals. But that is not the thing
08:38 -> that I do every single day to stay
08:41 -> connected to my own well of inspiration
08:44 -> and creativity. So what might your
08:46 -> answers be? I invite you to just even if
08:49 -> you're listening right now and you don't
08:51 -> have pen and paper, just pause for a
08:53 -> minute and think, reflect on where did
08:57 -> your creativity go? And I might even add
09:00 -> to that prompt. When did it go? When do
09:04 -> you remember
09:06 -> feeling like your creativity was alive
09:08 -> and you felt inspired and the ideas were
09:10 -> flowing? Whether they were writing,
09:13 -> dance, movement, art, right? Like
09:16 -> sometimes it's all the way back to
09:17 -> kindergarten,
09:19 -> sometimes it's we go off to university
09:21 -> and we stop making art, which was my
09:24 -> particular case. And then step three of
09:27 -> our simple four-step process. So prompt
09:30 -> reflect is to create. And I want to
09:34 -> create in relationship to my prompt
09:36 -> here. So today I chose one of my
09:39 -> favorite art supplies. These are Derwent
09:43 -> Inktense blocks. They are extremely
09:46 -> pigmentrich
09:48 -> and water soluble like a really awesome
09:52 -> watercolor pencil a vibrant and they
09:54 -> actually come in a pencil form but you
09:57 -> can use anything for this practice. I
10:00 -> love oil pastels plain old Crayola
10:03 -> markers but today it felt like oh maybe
10:06 -> a little bit of water
10:08 -> would help me reconnect to my own
10:11 -> creative flow here. And the first thing
10:14 -> I'm simply going to do is when I think
10:15 -> about where did my creativity go, I want
10:19 -> to pick a color that represents that
10:22 -> feeling of my creativity is lost and
10:27 -> kind of dim. And so I might even just
10:29 -> divide my page into half here to make
10:32 -> this simple. And it feels like it's down
10:35 -> here buried in the roots, right? And I'm
10:38 -> coloring kind of hard on the page. And
10:42 -> maybe there's even a little, you know,
10:45 -> black shadowy stuff, but you know, it
10:48 -> feels like my creativity is like stuck
10:52 -> down here in this little bitty corner.
10:58 -> And I'm just going to take, you can see
10:59 -> how beautiful these colors are. And I'm
11:01 -> just going to add a little water. And
11:04 -> I'm just gonna notice, right? It feels
11:07 -> kind of grungy. Like there's still some
11:10 -> of the passion there in that red color,
11:14 -> right? But you know, there's not a lot
11:17 -> of sort of air or space or circulation.
11:20 -> My creativity feels limited and stuck.
11:24 -> When I am in that place of creative
11:28 -> invitation and beautiful flow and the
11:32 -> ideas are flooding, in fact, they're
11:34 -> flooding so fast I almost don't know
11:36 -> what to do with them, which is another
11:38 -> problem we can solve on another day. And
11:42 -> I think I actually have a few videos on
11:44 -> how to manage bright shiny idea
11:46 -> syndrome. But when I think about
11:50 -> when my creativity is flowy, my
11:53 -> movements
11:54 -> feel different, the colors feel
11:56 -> different, there's expansion,
12:00 -> and it feels like light is flowing in
12:03 -> from everywhere, and it feels like it's
12:06 -> even going to flow over to the other
12:08 -> side of the page that there's this
12:10 -> opportunity
12:12 -> for fullness. Um, it feels joyful.
12:19 -> It feels abundant, right? Like these
12:22 -> beautiful bubbles of inspiration
12:25 -> are blooming all around me. I love
12:31 -> bubbles. And maybe some little
12:34 -> light sparkles.
12:39 -> And again, we can I'm kind of almost not
12:43 -> wanting to add lots of water to this
12:45 -> one. And that's okay. We'll see what
12:48 -> happens. Oh, it softens it. So, adding
12:51 -> like trusting the the play and how
12:54 -> things want to move and knowing those
12:57 -> colors are going to mix and they're
12:59 -> actually becoming a little rainbow.
13:02 -> Like,
13:04 -> I don't need a lot of water here.
13:08 -> And I know it makes the pages shiny,
13:11 -> but all of a sudden, oh, things feel
13:14 -> loose and flowy. And from this simple
13:19 -> visual creative play here, what I can
13:23 -> see is what it feels like. And this is
13:26 -> like anxiety inducing for me when my I
13:31 -> feel disconnected from my creativity.
13:33 -> And when I'm disconnected from my
13:34 -> creativity, I'm disconnected from one of
13:37 -> my greatest gifts and my greatest joys.
13:40 -> And it feels icky and yucky, but it's
13:44 -> still there, right? It's still there.
13:46 -> So, what it needs is light and air and
13:50 -> movement and play. It needs to feel like
13:53 -> it's in spring, not in the dead of
13:56 -> winter, right? It needs open
13:59 -> opportunity. And mostly it needs my
14:02 -> attention and commitment. And if you
14:05 -> were to grab a simple journal and every
14:10 -> day this week, my challenge to you would
14:14 -> be to play with this prompt, right? To
14:19 -> simply play with this prompt. What is my
14:22 -> creativity look like? Or what does my
14:25 -> creativity need when it's in full bloom?
14:28 -> You only need to draw what it looks like
14:31 -> when it's gone one time. But if every
14:34 -> day you simply put color on paper, I can
14:38 -> guarantee you you're going to feel more
14:40 -> joyful, more inspired, and more
14:43 -> connected to the artist within. And my
14:47 -> final step of the creative reflection
14:51 -> pages practice is to integrate what
14:55 -> we're seeing here. So, what I'm
14:57 -> noticing, that's always my first
14:59 -> question. What am I noticing? So, I'm
15:02 -> noticing um get my big pen here.
15:07 -> I'm noticing tightness,
15:10 -> closed off,
15:13 -> that stuck feeling
15:16 -> versus
15:18 -> flow,
15:20 -> bloom,
15:22 -> light,
15:24 -> color.
15:26 -> Like there's energy here, right? There's
15:28 -> energy and there's movement.
15:32 -> And I do this very quickly because I've
15:34 -> been doing it for so long. So, if you're
15:37 -> feeling like, I can't do it that fast or
15:39 -> I need more time, t one, take the time
15:42 -> you need, and two, I encourage you to go
15:45 -> really fast because when you go really
15:47 -> fast, you get away from the inner
15:49 -> critic, out of the judge in your head
15:51 -> and back into your body, right, of
15:56 -> creative play and joyfulness and
16:00 -> creativity.
16:01 -> It lives in our body, not in our
16:04 -> thinking head. So reconnecting is why I
16:07 -> love this process so much because it
16:10 -> reconnects us over and over and over
16:12 -> again to the truth of how we're feeling.
16:14 -> And this took five minutes, 10 minutes.
16:17 -> It's not selfish ever to spend 5 to 10
16:20 -> minutes a day on yourself. This would be
16:22 -> a great process to do with that leftover
16:24 -> box of kids crayons that you've still
16:27 -> got tucked away in a cabinet or a
16:29 -> kitchen drawer. or pull out some
16:32 -> favorite markers that you bought a long
16:34 -> time ago and have been saving for the
16:36 -> perfect project. Well, my dear, you are
16:39 -> the perfect project and your creativity
16:42 -> is still there. It is not dried up. It
16:45 -> is just waiting for you to give it some
16:47 -> love and attention. So, enjoy this
16:50 -> playful practice for reconnecting to
16:53 -> your creativity at 55 and over. It works
16:56 -> for any age. But what I've discovered in
16:59 -> myself and in my own work is that
17:01 -> there's this longing that we have as we
17:04 -> get older to bring this lost part of
17:07 -> oursel back. And it doesn't have to be
17:09 -> hard. It doesn't have to be complicated.
17:11 -> It can be playful and fun. So enjoy the
17:14 -> process. Let me know how it goes in the
17:16 -> comments. It means the world to me when
17:19 -> I hear from you. Give me a nice like.
17:22 -> Subscribe for more video prompts just
17:24 -> like this one. and I will see you next
17:26 -> week with an all new prompt for our
17:29 -> creative reflection pages practice.
17:31 -> Thanks for joining me.