Creative Struggles That Are Built-In. Here’s How to Work With Them.

There are certain struggles creatives face that are way more universal than personal, even if it doesn’t feel that way. 

They stem from working at the intersection of the unseen and material world (which I referred to in my last post), and can be looked at as natural by-products of the creative journey itself. Today I want to talk about three of those.

I’ve learned that by recognizing these challenges as built-in and reframing them accordingly, we can alleviate a lot of unnecessary suffering. Instead of trying to eliminate these struggles, the key is to accept them as part of the process, and let this shift in perception transform our experience.

So let’s get into them:

Creating Beyond the Visible: Common Struggle #1 Loneliness

Creatives operate more in the unseen world than the average population, making it difficult to be fully seen or understood—especially in the early stages of our work. As social creatures, this is never easy to deal with. But much of our suffering can be relieved when we can recognize it’s not “us”- we are simply witnessing the natural by-product of our inner workings that put us on this particular journey. Recognizing this helps us shift from feeling isolated to understanding our role in bringing the unseen into form.

The Hidden Half of Your Work: Common Struggle #2 Low Self-Esteem

When our spiritual literacy is still in baby shoes, it’s easy to fall into this trap: We compare our process to someone else’s finished work, making it a perfect recipe for self-doubt. The truth? A huge portion of your creative work is invisible—ideas, refinement, inner breakthroughs and transformations. The key is applying discipline to remember this and training yourself to trust in what’s still unfolding, rather than judging what’s not yet visible.

The Tug-of-War Between Logic and Purpose: Common Struggle #3 Overwhelm

Creative entrepreneurs often move in ways that seem irrational to the outside world—and even to themselves. There is a conviction that is based mostly on vision—and that can be overwhelming. Because our main driver isn’t rooted in logic, but in purpose. Knowing this distinction allows us to trust our own convictions rather than seeking external validation. Understanding purpose, how it interacts with us, and our art is what gives us orientation when nothing else seems to make sense.

All these struggles have one thing in common. They’re natural by-products of the journey. Instead of seeing them as obstacles to remove; we can see them as conditions to work with. Because once we stop resisting them and start recognizing them as part of the terrain, we make way for something powerful: We’re able to move through them with clarity instead of frustration. And in doing so, we step fully into the role of the creator—not just of our work, but of our experience itself