Peggy Arthur

By: Peggy Arthur

Greetings!

Have you ever had a really, really bad day?

I’m not talking about a stub-your-toe-and-move-on kind of bad. I mean a Murphy’s Law kind of day. Anything that can go wrong does go wrong.

You spill coffee on your shirt right before a meeting.
Your car won’t start.
Your deadline vanishes in a flurry of chaos.
And just when you think it can’t get worse, your phone dies. You miss the one call you’ve been waiting on for weeks.

One domino falls—and boom. The rest come crashing down.

The Stormy Days of Creativity

Some people call it a “bad day.” Others might call it a storm.
But for me, it feels like standing under a personal raincloud. This raincloud refuses to move. It stays there no matter how fast I run or how hard I try to shake it off.

The cloud lingers.
The weight presses.
And if you’re a creative—writer, artist, maker of any kind—this kind of day can feel like quicksand.

Heavy.
Sticky.
Exhausting.

So, here’s the big question:

How do you create when you feel like crap?

Step One: Name It.

Say it out loud: This day sucks.
Sometimes, just naming your experience can take the sting out of it.

You’re not being negative—you’re being honest.
There’s power in calling a thing what it is.

Step Two: Be Gentle.

You don’t have to force yourself to be productive at full capacity.

Maybe “creating” today looks like:

• Journaling one sentence
• Lighting a candle
• Writing a text to your future self: Keep going. We’ve been here before.

 Step Three: Make Something Ugly.

Seriously.

• Scribble.
• Doodle.
• Write a messy scene.
• Craft a terrible poem.
• Sing badly on purpose.

Give yourself permission to create something unpolished.
Art doesn’t always have to be profound. Sometimes, it just has to be.

Step Four: Don’t Hold onto the Negativity.

And please—for the love of cats—don’t kick the cat.
I repeat: do not kick the cat.

The energy you give is the energy you receive.

As hard as it is, when the storm keeps rolling, you have to be:

• Steadfast
• Grounded
• Hopeful (even if it’s just a whisper)

Step Five: Look for the Tiny Spark.

Not the lightning bolt—just the flicker.

Maybe it’s:

• A favorite quote
• A song
• A voice memo from a friend
• A walk outside

Find that one thing that reminds you of your light, even if the storm hasn’t cleared.

Step Six: Tell the Story.

When the rain finally stops—and it will—tell someone how you made it through.

• Write about it.
• Blog about it.
• Paint it.
• Share it.

Not for the applause, but for the reminder that storms don’t get the final word.

Final Thoughts

We all have those days.

You are not alone, and you are not broken because the storm knocked you off course.

You’re still here.
Still standing.
Still capable of creating—even if today, that just means surviving.

Your Turn!

What’s your go-to strategy when everything seems to go wrong?
How do you create in the middle of the mess?

Drop a comment below—I’d love to hear how you weather your storms.

Feeling the storm? You’re not alone.

Some days just knock the wind out of you—and on those days, creating anything at all can feel impossible. But here’s the truth:
You don’t have to do this alone.

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Subscribe now—and get a little light in your inbox, even on the heaviest days. Because the storm doesn’t get the final word.

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