I’m with you, I’ve been there, and everyone’s different of course. For me it’s like I have to create something that produces a physical result or object that I can point to that makes me feel like “I created this thing, everyone can see it, I’m not broken.”

I’m a runner, I read, my SO is severely disabled, so caring for him, all the household responsibilities and fighting with insurance companies is my other full time job, (aside from my real full time job, lol). It’s all stuff that I either enjoy or just plain has to be done, but doesn’t help (me anyway) the way creating does. I would say your cosplaying (so cool btw!), is exactly the type of thing that would typically pull me out of it a little, maybe blocking out a bit of time to work on something new there? Maybe not, but creativity with a tangible result is magic for me!