Why Stillness Might Be the Spark You’ve Been Missing
There’s something deeply unsettling about standing still—especially in a world that celebrates constant motion. Climbing ladders. Chasing deadlines. Checking boxes. And yet, stillness might be the one thing that finally points you back to yourself.
Take the story of a man who had it all “on paper”: a stable job in tech, decent salary, good benefits, and a LinkedIn profile that made recruiters drool. But beneath the surface, he felt numb. Meetings drained him. Projects blurred together. And somewhere along the way, the spark he once had—gone. So he did something bold. He took a sabbatical.
No fancy retreats. No productivity bootcamps. Just long walks, sketchpads, quiet mornings. And somewhere in that silence, a memory resurfaced: as a kid, he used to animate stick figures in the margins of his notebooks. He remembered the joy, the obsession, the hours lost in flow. That forgotten passion tugged at him. One quiet afternoon, he downloaded a basic animation tool. No expectations. Just play. That was the beginning of his creative leap.
Stillness reveals what you've buried.
Most of us don’t hate work—we hate the version of ourselves we’ve become at work. The reactive, over-scheduled, always-available self. The self that forgets what we used to love, or maybe never had the chance to find out.
When you're burned out, your brain doesn't have space for curiosity. You're in survival mode. But pause for just a bit—like real pause—and things start to shift. You notice. You remember. You feel. Stillness isn’t laziness. It’s excavation.
The Career Reboot starts here.
You don’t need a perfect plan or a dramatic exit. A career reboot can begin with a whisper: “What did I used to love before I started chasing titles?” That one question might unlock more than a whole year of grinding ever could.
Think of your career like a sketchbook. Some pages are full of drafts and mistakes. Some are blank. A reboot doesn’t throw the whole book away—it just turns the page. And if you’re waiting for permission? Here it is. You’re allowed to pause. You’re allowed to explore. You’re allowed to suck at something new before you get good at it again.
How to find your Creative Leap
Let’s make this less abstract. Here are three small steps you can try today:
- Unplug for 2 hours. No phone. No tasks. Just sit, walk, stare, journal—whatever. Listen for the thing that tugs at you.
- Write down 3 things you used to love doing as a kid. Even if they seem silly now. There’s gold in those memories.
- Start small. If it’s animation, download a free tool. If it’s writing, try one messy paragraph. Don’t aim to impress—aim to feel.
Because creative leaps don’t begin with confidence. They begin with curiosity.
Here’s the truth no one tells you: the biggest shifts in your career often come from slowing down, not speeding up. The career reboot isn’t about quitting everything. It’s about coming home to yourself. And maybe, just maybe, stillness is where your next move lives.
Try this today:
What’s one small thing you loved doing before your career got loud? Write it down. Then spend 20 quiet minutes exploring it—just for you.
Your creative leap could be one still moment away.
Writing after work, with lukewarm coffee. Like what you read? Buy me a coffee ☕