Restoring the Artist, Part 6: Living in Tune

How to sustain your creative life without sacrificing your nervous system

You’ve come a long way.

You’ve started listening to your body.

You’ve met the parts of you that have been working overtime — and the ones that felt forgotten.

You’ve honored resistance, reclaimed boundaries, and begun to rediscover your own rhythm.

Now the question becomes:

How do I live from this place?

How do I stay in tune — even when life gets loud again?

 Rhythm Is Not a One-Time Fix

True recovery from burnout isn’t a single moment of clarity.

It’s a new relationship with your inner world.

It’s not about achieving balance once — it’s about returning to balance, again and again, with greater ease and self-trust.

This is where musicians often struggle.

We want the breakthrough. The resolution. The clear line between “before” and “after.”

But living in tune is more like playing jazz than reading a score.

It’s fluid. Improvised. Responsive.

And you don’t have to get it perfect.

 Integration Means Trusting Your System

The practices you've learned — emotional allowing, parts dialogue, somatic presence — were never meant to be performances. They are tools for staying in relationship with yourself.

The goal isn’t to feel good all the time.

The goal is to be able to feel what’s true — and respond with care.

This means:

• Checking in with your body before making commitments

  
  

• Noticing when an old role or part tries to hijack your rhythm

  
  

• Creating space for ritual, rest, and reflection

  
  

• Surrounding yourself with people who support the real you, not just the performing one

  
  

Anchoring Your New Normal

Here are a few gentle ways to root your healing into daily life:

1. Create a check-in ritual

   
   

   Each morning or before gigs, ask: “What part of me is leading today?”

   
   

   Greet it. Invite it into collaboration.

   
   

2. Keep using your tools

   
   

   Revisit your Allowing Emotions worksheet.

   
   

   Revisit the Parts Integration Tool when old roles creep back in.

   
   

   Let them become part of your artistic process — not just a recovery practice.

   
   

3. Honor creative cycles

   
   

   Not every season is for output. Trust the rhythm of rest, integration, and inspiration.

   
   

4. Choose one anchor phrase

   
   

   A mantra, lyric, or line that brings you back to center.

   
   

   (e.g., “My body leads.” / “I don’t have to prove anything.” / “Slow is safe.”)

   
   
   
   

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You’re Not Starting Over — You’re Starting Real

The version of you that burned out was never a failure.

It was a brilliant, determined, exhausted system doing what it thought it had to do.

This version — the one who listens, who feels, who stays in conversation with their inner world —

is living the real work of artistry.

And that deserves to be celebrated.

Ready to Go Deeper?

If this series resonated, and you’re ready to deepen your process, I’d love to support you.

Through one-on-one sessions, I help musicians and sensitive creatives recover their rhythm, rewrite internal contracts, and step into creative lives that feel like home.

👉 Visit michaelsundellcoaching.com to explore sessions, tools, and next steps.