Work Life Balance
How I Make Time for the Work That Actually Matters
Tips for creatives trying to balance paid work with soul work
Shannon Hilson
Writer of essays, reflections, and cultural commentary. Exploring creativity, inner life, and what it means to grow wiser on purpose.
Art
"I'm Broke, But Can You Make Me a Masterpiece?"
Why custom art isn’t free just because the tools got faster
Life
The Myth of Wasted Time (and Why I'm Not Playing That Game Anymore)
So, this week seems to be shaping up to be more about recalibrating and recentering than anything else. I saw that coming, though. The universe has had my hands full lately with several months of tasks and little emergencies – broken appliances that needed fixing, jury duty I couldn't
Creativity
Turning Weird Feelings Into Sacred Text
So, I've found myself thinking more about different kinds of stories and all the things they can mean. And not just the wholly fictional ones we invent out of thin air when we feel like being creative, but also the semi-mythologized stories we tell ourselves about ourselves.
Life
When the System Hands You Humans Instead
When it comes to jury duty, there seem to be two types of people out there — the type that loves the idea of serving on a jury and the type who will do just about anything to avoid it. I’m a million percent the second type and have been
Creativity
What We Really Give When We Create
When you first start sharing any sort of art online, it's never long before you start feeling... pressure. It doesn’t matter whether you’re posting paintings, poems, AI renders, divination spreads, or half-baked shower thoughts. The moment people like what you do — really like it — you’
Mental Health
Maybe the Problem Wasn't Me: Rethinking Anxiety When the World Really Is Too Much
There’s a really common narrative people love to circle back to when it comes to anxiety. Maybe you’ve heard it. You get all worked up about something ahead of time, because you're sure it's going to be an absolutely shit show of an experience.
Belief Systems
Ashes in the Shape of a Flag
I used to really look forward to posting on social media for Independence Day. I had this whole collection of humorous and over-the-top graphics I liked to share as a way of reminding people to make room for fun at some point in their day. But this year?
Neurodivergence
Normal Is a Lie: Choose Yourself Instead
Life's taught me a lot of hard lessons over the years, but in my case, one of the most important ones was also one of the hardest to learn. It's that people are allowed to be disabled and to have limits. And they shouldn't
Mental Health
The Grace of Being Unimportant
Once upon a time, I thought I wanted to be important (and simply assumed I would be one day). Not necessarily "red carpet important," but book deal important. Someone-mentions-you-in-an-essay important. I thought being seen meant being validated, and being validated would mean I&
Life
Offerings to the World, Big and Small
As you may have gathered, I've kind of been having a rough go of things lately. A lot's been going on — at home, at work, with my entire sense of self (for all sorts of reasons). I felt like I needed a reset today, and I
Life
When You Thought You Could Handle It (But Couldn't)
There are moments in life when you really think you’ve finally got it. You’re managing your obligations, you’ve built coping mechanisms that work for you, and you’ve certainly been through worse, so surely, you can handle this, too. Until something makes you realize you've