What do you do when a project ends? We explore creative grief and how to deal with it

To dive into this idea of creative mourning in more detail, I spoke to a range of people, including psychologist Natasha Frome, creative director at Wieden+Kennedy London Freddy Taylor, Maya Moumne, co-founder of Studio Safar and Journal Safar and editor-in-chief of Al Hayya, and photographer Vivek Vadoliya.

So, let’s start at the beginning, or rather, the end of a project, to find out what is going on. Psychologist Natasha Frome suggests there are many reasons why a person might experience feelings of creative grief, but for the most part, it centres around a sense of loss. She explains, “Grief, in our traditional understanding of the word, is the physical and mental reaction to losing something or someone. In relation to a creative project, it can be a loss of identity or purpose when you’ve put a lot of energy into a project or piece of work. Once it’s gone from your life or it’s out in the world, you’ve lost control of it. You’ve lost connection to a part of yourself and perhaps a wider group of people you worked with. This sense of loss can leave you feeling empty and with a void in your life.”

Natasha goes on to outline how this sense of loss can manifest for different people, “It can show up as emotional turmoil, fatigue, sleep disturbance, physical agitation, an inability to think clearly, and it can affect how we behave socially – you might not want to be around people or feel disconnected from those closest to you.”

On the hamster wheel that is modern life, we often don’t have the time to process these complicated feelings fully. It can be uncomfortable to sit with difficult emotions and easier to plough on to the next project, burying what we’d prefer to ignore, but this can have a long-term impact on our mental health.

In the context of an advertising agency, the highs and lows of any one project never lie solely on the shoulders of one individual, as there are so many people involved at every stage. On the one hand, this can be a positive as there’s support and hopefully a sounding board when things don’t go as planned, but it can also lead to the frustration of ideas being diluted. “The best feeling is when the final work is as close as possible to the core idea,” says Freddy. “Sometimes this isn’t possible, and it’s worth figuring out what hill you’re prepared to die on and what you’re happy to let go.”

In response to potential disappointments, Freddy wisely suggests acknowledging the wider factors at play that go into making something a success or not, “maybe the campaign had all the right components – a good idea, brilliantly executed, but the reality is it’s getting harder and harder to make work that gets real, mass attention. It’s not to make excuses but acknowledging that there are bigger factors at play in any industry is important.” He also sees the importance of developing a value system outside of work, where your identity isn’t as intrinsically linked to the highs and lows of your career. He suggests creating a solid support network of people in and out of your industry who can help give you perspective, and he also puts importance on defining what success looks like for yourself outside of the traditional metrics of likes, shares and money.

On reflection, my own creative grief came about because I missed having something to lose myself in. I missed the characters I’d spent months developing and, once the book was out, I felt the withering impact of feeling judged. It also meant that there were no more opportunities to tinker or correct the things I wanted to change. Since that period, I’ve come to appreciate that an end is just the beginning of something new. I've started writing a new novel and, with the experience of the first book in mind, I’m now really focusing on enjoying the process of writing and creating as best I can because I have no control over anything beyond that. I’ve also become a lot more comfortable with the imperfect end product; there’ll always be something we’d want to change about a creative endeavour we’ve put out into the world, but at some point you just have to let go.

Today it’s so easy to numb ourselves with any amount of distractions, but if we shine a light into the darkest corners of our lives, we can find some of the most profound lessons there. This deep hurt or pain can really help us locate what is important to us if we have the bravery and support to look at it in the cold light of day and be honest about what we find. Sometimes this forced hiatus and break in normal programming is exactly what we need to move forward in our lives in a more sustainable and rewarding way.

Dealing with creative grief can be a personal and individual process. Everyone's experience is unique, and finding what works best for you may involve trying different strategies or seeking professional support if needed. Here’s a recap of strategies that may help:

• Recognise and acknowledge difficult emotions.
• Define success on your own terms.
• Have a clear understanding of your purpose and who you are as a creative.
• Embrace the learning process.
• Seek support in and outside of your industry or discipline.
• Engage in continuous learning and set new goals or challenges.
• Recognise that an end is also a new beginning and an opportunity to do it differently the next time.