There's a satisfaction that comes with creating that is so hard to explain, Ofcourse it's different for everyone; Is it the excitement that comes with chasing an idea or the exploration and eventually shaping it into something real. It is not just about the finished product, it's the late-night rabbit holes, the unexpected research that comes along the way, the small "aha" moments that make you want to keep showing up
But sometimes, without warning, that joy disappears!
Ever been in a situation where you feel overly excited about a new idea, then out of excitement you decided to share the idea with a friend and they weren't as excited about it as you were? Or only for them to nod nicely and say "Niceeeee"
Or in a similar situation where they are as excited but they gave you a detailed analysis of your idea, analyze it, build on it, reframe it... and somehow, in the process of seeing your idea laid out clearly, you lose the spark. The energy / excitement vanishes. Suddenly the idea feels finished; though you haven't even done anything on it yet.
Then you move on...
Then it happens again...
Until eventually, you are left wondering; why don't I feel like creating anymore?
The "friend" in this story? that's AI
The "you" that's me
I didn't see it coming at first. But the more I used AI to help shape my thoughts, the more I noticed a quiet tradeoff happening: clarity in exchange for creativity, Speed in exchange for spark, Convenience... at the cost of fulfilment.
The joy of the process
A few years ago, if you wanted to write about something technical, let's say an article on Golang; your first most likely stop would be the official documentation. From there, you'd dive into Google, hunting down blog posts, tutorials, white papers, articles, youtube videos and forum discussions to be able to gather a broad range of perspectives.
But you didn't just copy and paste. Instead, you absorbed all this information, piece by piece, until you fully have a better understanding about the topic. Along the way, you'd come across terms and concepts that you are not familiar with which then forced you to pause and dig deeper. You might even take some time off to experiment, research, and make sense of it all.
Only after this deliberate (sometimes slow) process can you piece together your findings into a coherent article that reflects your understanding. Writing a technical piece wasn't just about sharing facts; it was proof that you have developed a grounded knowledge of the subject. And with that understanding came confidence.
The confidence that you weren't just repeating information, but truly owned the topic
When AI skips the process
Fast forward to present where AI is now fully in the picture; Powerful, efficient, and also impressively fast. It has helped unblocked writers from creative ruts lol, speed up research, complete projects in record time and deliver answers without the usual deep dive down the rabbit hole lol.
But where is the joy!? No doubt that AI excels at removing friction, it however, often takes with it something far more valuable.
The messy middle
The messy middle as I love to call it is like the chaotic, uncertain space or finding the right "click" between idea and execution is where much of human creativity lives. It's where we struggle, discover, and evolve our thoughts into something richer. AI can obviously shortcut that process, sometimes even to the point where we like we are like spectators to our own ideas.
All it takes is one prompt
All it takes is one prompt, and it spits out polished answers before you've even had a chance to think things through. Yes! It's fast but how about the result? Content that might read well on the surface, but often lacks human touch, soul, no real connection to the audience, no hard-earned insights, just a pile of buzz words strung together by patten recognition.
When the process disappears, so does the sense of ownership. And without ownership, what are we truly creating?
You are not alone
The struggle is real, The excitement that fades out cannot be over emphasized and you are not the only one feeling it. That rush of excitement when a new idea hits? It's powerful. But just as quickly, it can vanish the moment AI turns your spark into a neatly packaged paragraph. You thought you were about to write something, but now it feels like it's already written, and somehow... not by you.
It's not that you didn't get what you asked for, in fact, you got it instantly. But the thrill? The curiosity? The messy exploration that made you feel in it may be gone with a single prompt. You are then left with staring at a finished answer, yet feeling creatively empty.
If you have felt this, you are not alone. Many creators are experiencing the same disconnect; a silent kind of burnout that doesn't come from working too hard, but from skipping the part that made the work meaningful in the first place.
Reclaiming the joy of writing
That constant feeling of not being enough is not a flaw, it's however a signal. It's a sign that you still care. That you are still full of ideas worth exploring. If anything, it means the spark is still alive.
AI doesn't have to be the thief of your creativity. It can be your creative partner, a co-pilot, not a ghostwriter.
Instead of outsourcing your ideas to a machine, start with your own messy, human draft then embrace the rawness, the imperfection, the questions. Invite AI to collaborate but not to take over but to sharpen, reshape, and challenge your thinking.
Use it to unblock yourself, explore alternatives, find patterns, or expand a thought; not to replace the joy of the process.
Here is an example prompt you can try: Act as a co-editor. Let's brainstorm on this idea together
You can even add reference links, articles, docs etc for extra context. That way, it becomes collaborative effort; your idea, your voice, enhanced by the tools you choose to work with
Because at the end of the day, writing is not just about hitting the 'publish' button. It's about making something that feels true to you.
A letter to self
AI isn't the enemy, However, it can quietly overshadow your voice only if you let it.
So take back the pen. Let the ideas breathe in its raw unfinished form, let the process be messy, curious and human.
And most importantly, let yourself feel proud -- not just of what you create, but how you create it.
You are still the writer. AI is just the assistant!
Top comments (18)
I feel this
Totally relate to that uneasy feeling when AI shortcuts zap the spark from making something.
Have you found any specific prompts or workflows that actually help boost your creativity instead of replacing it?
What I usually do is think through my idea first, digest it and make sure I know the actual end goal from the beginning so that any AI tool I decide to go with doesn't change my focus. Then I proceed to brainstorm with it, upload some materials, then I can come up with a rough draft.
For prompts; I don't usually have one persay; But one that has really worked for me is role and context prompting. I.e I prompt the AI to
act as a top editor from {inserts company}and the context comes in form of sharing white papers, articles, links, pdfs etc.Hope this helps!
If I may jump in here... I rarely use AI because it can't normally figure out how to do what I need it to do, but when I do, I use it to debug/figure out silly syntax errors/borrow checker issues/etc. Anything that is, in theory, incredibly simple, but is just incredibly hard to spot. It's a nice way to avoid letting it do everything, but also allowing myself to focus on the meat of whatever I'm working on (in other words boost my creativity, as you said).
I totally agree with you on this... The goal is to make it your co-pilot not the pilot itself
Maybe AI steals the joy of creating, but it definitely gives a lot of joy when fixing the bugs it creates. Yesterday, I tried to save time by asking Claude to modify my code to format an article. After 37 minutes of back and forth, I ended up restoring the original version from GitHub. Then, in just 5 minutes, I did all the work manually — and that was a real joy!
Uhmmm, I can relate 🙌
Definitely feeling this and struggling with grief and burnout. I've been coding for 30 years now. At first I was super excited and a big proponent of AI. I probably still am. But ideas become ugly prototypes in minutes now. I'm not sure if I'm failing faster or just going through the motions. And I find I've become more lazy. The code doesn't feel like mine, and I've become so used to not coding that doing so feels like a chore.
There is a joy in seeing a task you've planned and struggled with come to life. There is little joy seeing the AI do it. The end results are probably similar. But it's like doing a puzzle. Few people do it for the end results, they do it for the journey. If I really wanted to see Cats Playing In a Kitchen, I'd just buy a poster, or just hang up the puzzle box top.
I've got to get back to coding by hand. Maybe with an AI sidekick, given strict specifications. I need to know how every piece works. I need to feel joy from coding again.
Uhmmmmm, I really feel this! Thank you so much for also sharing from your experience... I also think we are currently in the season where "For every new AI invention / innovation; There's a cost that comes with it" which is taking away the joy that comes with solving the puzzle. We need to get back to feeling the joy that comes from coding
This hit home.
There’s a kind of quiet grief in watching the spark fade — not because the idea wasn’t good, but because the process got skipped. The process is where the soul lives. That messy middle you mentioned — the doubt, the discovery, the deep dives at 2AM — that's the part we remember, not just the polished output.
AI is powerful, no doubt. But when it gives us clarity too quickly, we often lose connection with the thing we were trying to say. It’s like seeing a photo of a mountain instead of hiking it.
Your reflection isn’t anti-AI, and that’s what makes it so valuable. It’s a call to create with intention — to invite tools in, but never let them replace the human wrestling that gives our work depth and meaning.
Thank you for putting words to something so many of us have felt but couldn’t name. This was more than a post — it was a mirror.
— Comment created with the help of ChatGPT (by OpenAI)
:))))
Thanks Petro, I’m happy you are able to also relate as well.
The last line though 😂🤲
Awesome Content 👏
Thank you :)
I love the last line where you said "You are still the writer. AI is just the assistant!". Also, I can totally relate to the post. Thank you for sharing it.
Happy you can also relate 😁
true. i can relate
Yeah, totally get this - sometimes I use AI and then I’m like, where’d the fun go? Still feels better when I mess it up a bit and figure stuff out by myself.
Yeah! The feeling that comes after is always so pleasant
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