How to Stick to Creative Goals When You Have PMDD

There's no sugarcoating this one. PMDD (pre-menstrual dysphoric disorder) is not an easy subject, and often, it's not one people like to hear about. It's dark and heavy and hard to process out loud, especially for people who have never experienced it. Luckily, this one is not for them.

I’ve battled depression and anxiety on and off for most of my life. In hindsight, much of it was tied to PMDD and the emotional rollercoaster that comes with those darker cycles. Even among those who live with it, PMDD is still widely misunderstood. What’s talked about even less is how, if left undiagnosed and untreated, it can completely disrupt creative goals, making it incredibly difficult to stay consistent through to completion.

Creating is not impossible with PMDD. In fact, it's one of the more therapeutic things you can do. But when you have creative goals that involve self-discipline, timelines, deadlines, or require focus, PMDD can get in the way.

Don't get discouraged. We can do this. Let's walk through it a bit.

A little story first...

I recently published my first poetry book, Shadow Confessions: Raw Version, a haunting poetic journey through the darkest PMDD periods of my life, before I finally realized I was experiencing an underlying condition that needed to be addressed. It took me 6 years to release this collection. Six years of working through PMDD to finish something.

I should have been excited as the release date approached. But for a bit, I was just embarrassed.

Between life, breakdowns, and darkness, it took years just to finish one project, and for a creative, that can make or break your ambition. It took me such a long time to finish this book after announcing that I was starting it that some people actually thought I had written multiple books in the same amount of time. (insert slap head emoji)

But this is what PMDD does. It derails you from your goals and forces you to sink and question every choice you've made. Your head is so foggy and shadowy that you can barely read words, let alone write, edit, and format them into a book. You may be able to create (on better days), but then you lack the energy and ability to turn those creations into finished products.

It's maddening.

Hitting rock bottom

As a writer, I HAVE to write to create a book. I have to produce words, reformat them, and make them perfect enough to please my brain and my audience. I have to read and reread and tweak and write new material. It's kind of part of the deal. PMDD, however, was making it extremely hard to stay on track; it didn't care that I had things to do.

Before I was diagnosed with PMDD, I had already spent years working to heal from depression and anxiety that seemed to affect every part of my life. The diagnosis helped me recognize that many of those feelings were tied to specific points in my cycle rather than being constant. While that awareness was empowering, it didn’t make the symptoms any easier to navigate when they showed up each month.

In the past, I let those feelings consume me. But as I started healing, I realized I could no longer put my life on hold every month when PMDD rolled around. Trying to cram all of my writing, work, motherhood, and daily responsibilities into the two weeks I felt like myself was exhausting and unsustainable. Something had to change.

It was time to make some major decisions for Shadow Confessions, and in my brain I had two choices: finish the f-ing book or quit.

Quitting felt wrong, as it should have. How could I ditch a project I talked about for years right before it was finished? How could I take all this poetry that deserved to be in the world and throw it all away? What would I tell my kids? My family? Myself? That I just couldn't?

I could. I just had to figure out how. I needed a PMDD plan, something to help me stay on track. So I started to experiment.

Creating a PMDD Plan

I don't have a one-size-fits-all solution. The truth is, there isn't one. Every mind and body is unique, and your PMDD plan will not look the same as someone else's. But the most important part is that you have one and continue to adjust it to help you follow through on creative goals and aspirations.

The goal for my plan was this: reduce symptoms so I can stay on track with goals.

Would I love to eliminate my PMDD symptoms completely? Of course. But I haven't been able to figure it out yet, and I'm not willing to diminish my progress for the sake of perfection (a new perception I am trying and it's working!)

Here are a few things that I have implemented to help with PMDD that allowed me to finally become a self-published author:

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Schedule in PMDD

Seriously. Track your cycle and your PMDD weeks on a calendar and take them seriously.

Don't overschedule the amount of creative tasks you need to complete during the week before your period. Try not to have a book release, an art show, or a deadline. If you can, make this your freestyle creative week. Schedule the heavy work before and after this week.

As a poet, I dive into my emotions and write new material. It could be for the book I'm on, or totally unrelated. I freewrite, paint, crochet, and read. Or, if it's that bad, I do self-care. I throw myself into nature and my loved ones and allow them to recharge me.

Grounding and challenging

Staying grounded during PMDD weeks keeps you from being swept away into the dark shadow cloud. Grounding helps keep you on track and reminds you that PMDD is a temporary blip, not reality.

I didn’t grow up in church, but I’ve always been deeply spiritual—sometimes I just forget. At my lowest point, I leaned into morning and nightly rituals, yoga, energy healing, and nature, and I never really looked back. I found an amazing group of spiritual women through my metaphysical shop who meet twice a month to support one another. My partner and I have also built a strong spiritual foundation in our relationship, and that shared connection has helped us grow individually and together in really meaningful ways.

Creatively, journaling and poetry have become some of my most effective grounding tools. Words have always been my favorite outlet, but journaling has helped me recognize intrusive thoughts and challenge them before they spiral. One of the cruelest parts of PMDD is how convincing it can be—it makes temporary feelings seem permanent. Grounding helps me remember that this phase will pass, even when it doesn't feel like it.

Let people in

One of the most helpful things I did after learning I had PMDD was to start talking about it openly. I talk with my partner about what I'm experiencing and what support looks like for me during those weeks. I lean on my sister, my writing friends, and even this blog as a place to share my experiences. The more I talk about it, the less isolated I feel, and the easier it becomes to process what I'm going through.

I know we don't all have loved ones we can talk to about PMDD or care to understand— I'm lucky. But the internet is a wonderful place. I'm a part of several Facebook groups dedicated to supporting women with PMDD and even groups just for family members who need help supporting people with PMDD. Authentic connection is key.

Vitamins and Diet

Your diet can play a significant role in managing PMDD, especially during the weeks when symptoms aren't present. While I haven't completed a full nutritional workup to identify exactly what my body needs, I've made a few simple changes that have noticeably improved my cycles and helped me feel more balanced overall.

• D3 + K2: My partner and I started taking this supplement, unrelated to troubleshooting PMDD. I kid you not, it's helped a ton. I'm forgetful, so I don't always take my vitamins. But when I don't take this combo around PMDD time, it shows. Don't just start adding vitamins now! I'm not a doctor. Talk to your doctor first. See what is right for your unique health routine.

• Pescatarian/Vegetarian Diet: I have been on and off of eating meat my whole life, mostly due to pregnancy aversions and texture issues. But the last time I went pescatarian, I realized my symptoms were barely there. The combination of more veggies and fish really worked for my body, and I have yet to go back to eating meat in an everyday diet.

• Kale salads: I love kale, so this one was not hard for me. Kale is packed with nutrients such as B6, folate, vitamin C, magnesium, and antioxidants that can gently support mood, energy, and stress management during PMDD. It’s not a fix, but its a simple food that helps your body feel a little more steady. You can find a ton of recipes on TikTok.

• Processed Meat: When I DO add meat back in my diet, it's usually bacon. I just love it. Unfortunately, there is no doubt that this and other processed meats adversely affect my symptoms. If you don't want to go meatless, reducing processed meats may help!

• Early mornings: This one is hard for me. But I've noticed that when I switch to an early bed and early rise schedule, I enter my PMDD week far more strongly than when I follow my night owl schedule. (It also helps me stay on my diet!) Maintaining this schedule isn't always possible, but when I can, I do.

Self-Care priority

I know, people say this all the time. But it's true. If you do one self-care step every day, you feel better, you show up stronger, and you're better prepared for what's to come.

To help you stay on top of your creative goals, make sure your self-care supports your creativity and refills your magic cup. This could be watching a movie, reading a book, taking a trip to the bookstore just to browse, attending an event, napping, or taking an extravagant bath with meditation music. Whatever self-care reboots you creatively, do it and do it enough to feel the difference.

Fuck it. Create how you can

This is my favorite one. I like to create chaotically as it is, but when bad PMDD days come around, I feel like I have extra permission to throw professional and conventional methods to the wind. I do whatever feels good rather than what I think I SHOULD do to achieve my goal. I release creative chaos.

I stay in my pj's. I eat whatever I want. I lie on the floor and write or sprawl in the grass or wrap myself in a blanket with candles and sage clouds and just do what I can. I focus on the tiniest parts of my goals and make sure I'm comfortable doing them. I still show up where I need to, but my expectations on PMDD days are minimal to none. It helps reduce shame and guilt, allowing for rest rather than internal turmoil.

I'm never going to be the most productive in this phase. But sometimes you cannot prevent a bad week. So if I come out of it and see that I edited one poem, moved some words around in a document, or wrote a new poem for the collection or another, that's more than I would have done if I hadn't tried. I can take a bit of pride from this.

Have grace overall

At the end of the day, living and creating with PMDD has taught me something I’m still learning: grace. Grace for the days that feel impossible, for the work that doesn’t get finished, and for the version of myself that shifts each month.

There’s no perfect system to outrun the cycle, but there are ways to move with it instead of against it. Creativity doesn’t disappear in the dark—it just changes shape.

If you take anything from this, let it be this: you’re not failing when your capacity changes, and you’re not alone in learning how to keep going anyway.

Keep going, dreamers.

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