You Wanna Be Creative – When Life Has Other Plans
You Wanna Be Creative.* What stands between you and your creative expression?
The view to the other side
Image by javier alamo from Pixabay
We can get frustrated when we’re not hitting our creative goals. The following four people have run into four different kinds of frustration.
- B is struggling with back-to-back, crushing work deadlines at their day job. The pressure has gotten to them, making everything more difficult.
- T is feeling the weight of the world bearing down on their shoulders. What with wars, politics, and the consequences of human-made climate change, T feels there’s too much to worry about to be able to focus on trivialities like creative work.
- G is reasonably busy and reasonably upbeat about life. Their problem is that things would have to change before the space to be creative appeared.
- Y is just beat. They struggle routinely with physical ups and downs, so this current dip isn’t a surprise or a crisis. It is really inconvenient, though. Y had big plans for this month, and it’s clear they won’t be able to follow through on the commitments they made to themself and to others.
Each one knows that they really need time to be creative: to sketch, or noodle around on an instrument, or prep and cook slow food, or draft a new story, or gather a group to drum and dance together, or myriad other possibilities.
But how?
- With B, it’s impossible to find the time.
- With T, there might be time, but there’s no juice, no optimism, no energy.
- With G, there might theoretically be time, and there are definitely good intentions, but not the will to make the necessary changes to everyday routines
- With Y, the time is not the problem; there’s not enough energy available to use the time by doing the work they want to accomplish. Life is really not cooperating.
Is there a Big Answer here? Not that I’m aware. Instead, here’s a handful of small suggestions.
Look after yourself
In my book, FLOAT • Becoming Unstuck for Writers (second edition is now available in paperback and ebook), I say that “there are plenty of reasons to practice self-care. Supporting the quality of your creative work is one great one.” Accordingly, one sort-of answer, at least for B and T, is to make it a priority to look after yourself. Tempt Future You with one or more blocked-out chunks of time in the calendar devoted to creative pursuits. But first, make sure there’s ample time as well for R&R. That way, you’ll be refreshed enough to enjoy the opportunity.
Use bits of time confetti
Dancing between the raindrops – grabbing shreds of time as they are available – is another possible partial answer for T, G, and even Y. I can certainly remember periods in my life when that was the best I could do for myself. I was glad to have those little moments because they were better than nothing. They provided a little relief to the big thirst that had been building up while things were just too busy and/or emotionally overwhelming to provide any more than that.
Surprise your creative self
Another tool from FLOAT, “Try Mandolin,” could work some of the time, for B, T, G and Y. This tool recommends a gentle shock to the system by substituting an unfamiliar form of expression for the usual one(s). Picking up a mandolin. Digging in to a mound of wet clay. Improvising a dance to music you haven’t heard before. Pouring an idea into a sonnet.
Remember it’s all fluid
A creative practice is fluid and dynamic. Things flow along beautifully, and then they don’t. A behavior is effective, and then one day it’s not. Our emotional and physical states fluctuate, too, adding more variables to an already unstable situation. Y knows this well, and B, T, and G might appreciate the reminder. It can be really helpful to recall this truth. Sometimes I just say to myself out loud, “It’s a process.” Does that work for you sometimes?
Give yourself a small gift
If you’re feeling uneasy about the world, your place in it, and your identity as a creative artist, consider doing yourself some small favors. Maybe one or more of these ideas will be helpful to you. Maybe a One Next Step session with me is a small gift you can give yourself, just by making the time for it.
Get in touch if you’d like to connect.
Be well, all
Anne
*(Do you hear the Ramones? Just me?)