Your Mind is a Fish Tank
The most gorgeous fish tank I’ve ever seen, found at Chester Zoo.
A Theory on how to be more creative, inspired by Julia Cameron's 'The Artist's Way'. Depression left my tank murky and empty. Here’s how I cleaned it, restocked it, and started creating again.
For a long time my head has felt like a dirty fish tank. Murky water. Dead fish at the bottom. Overgrown plants tangling everything together. Depression had turned my creativity stagnant. This visual hit me whilst reading The Artist’s Way.
It’s a book that guides you through a 12 week path to healing your creativity. Every day you must do morning pages and every week an Artist Date. The first aims to cleanse your mind and the latter to ‘fill the well’.
I didn't want to do an Artist Date, and add new projects, new ideas, new responsibilities to a place that frankly was an inhospitable environment. What’s the point? Anything I add would just rot in the mess.
That’s when I visualised my mind as a fish tank, and once I saw it that way, everything clicked.
The Fish Tank Theory
Your mind is a fish tank.
Picture a perfect one (or look at my favourite above). The water is clean, the fish are thriving, and the plants are vibrant. There’s variety, balance and systems to keep everything in order (filters, water changes, and a healthy population).
That’s a creative mind at peak performance:
Clean water = clarity, peace of mind, self-care. Thoughts move clearly without self doubt or overthinking.
Fish = new ideas, projects and sparks of inspiration.
Plants + Rocks = supportive habits, anchors and structure.
Filter system = Regular movement and rest to stay energised, or tools inside the tank to stop it getting murky.
Balanced in and out, steady flow of ideas and execution
Every time you write, design, post or perform, you take a fish out of the tank. That’s you using your creativity. If you take fish (ideas) out every single day; brainstorms, content, problem solving, projects, music, songs, posts etc, without ever refilling the tank, it’ll run dry.
If you’ve ever felt creative block, burnt out, stagnation or just ‘off’; I guarantee it’s because you didn’t look after your tank.
So, the real work of a creative isn’t only to “do the work.” It’s to care for the tank itself…
Step One: Cleaning the Tank
If your mind feels murky, you have to start here. Before you refill the tank, you need to reset the home. For me that’s:
Journalling daily to clear mental sludge.
Therapy and Reaching out to friends/family.
Sweat it out through exercise or saunas.
Relaxation through baths and early nights.
Nutrition to be energised.
I also decided to add something, a tool to live in the tank to help me keep it clean; medication (antidepressants) to maintain the balance of chemistry.
It’s not glamorous. It’s maintenance. But once I reframed it as “tank care,” it stopped feeling like a list of shoulds and started to feel like an act of love.
Step Two: Restock the Tank
Then comes the fun part: adding fish, and plants back in.
This is the Artist Date- time alone to feed your inner creative. It can be as small as a 20-minute walk, or as big as a solo trip. The point is to spark inspiration and restock your tank with new life.
From the small playful ideas you use once, to the big long-lasting projects. Or even the rare weird ideas that only show up once in a decade. They all matter.
Give yourself permission to play.
Buy something silly for your inner child (I have a remote control car)
Go on a colour walk, spotting only yellow things.
Try an art class? Dance? Pottery? Whatever you’ve always wanted to do.
Wander a new street, Visit a local charity shop, do something you wouldn’t usually do.
Not every fish needs to become a business plan. Some are just for swimming around, making the tank prettier. Doodle. Sing. Dance. Collect shells. A tiny fish, is still a fish.
The whole part of this process is rediscovering yourself, entertaining your soul, and doing things that feel good, or new, or uncomfortable, to grow as a person.
The Balance
Creativity isn’t just making something. It’s an ecosystem.
Only output? The tank empties.
Only input? The tank gets overcrowded.
Balance both, and it’s a thriving environment.
Your creativity depends on the health of your tank. So does your mindset.
Before you pressure yourself to “be more creative,” or even “be more positive” ask instead:
What does my tank need today? Cleaning or new fish?
