Stop Struggling with Your Creativity
Do you ever wonder how in the world you’ll make time for everything you want to do? Most creatives like us have many interests. We’re attracted to new things like bees to a flower bed, buzzing from one juicy thing to the next.
It’s exciting, and fun, to be stimulated by new ideas and possibilities. But the flip side is we can have a hard time prioritizing. We’ll spend hours skimming the surface of our interests, taking inspiration from many sources – popping over to Pinterest, scanning Instagram, reading an article or two, or three…. This feels great in the moment, but then when it comes time to work on our own projects, we’ve run out of time and energy.
And most times, it’s the things we must do – our jobs, our relationships, exercise – that feel most in competition with our creative time.
This is something I’ve struggled with. I remember very clearly the day in my home office in Boulder, circa 2003, when I realized that deferring my novel writing until I was ‘successful’ with my business was a bad, bad idea. It was clear that deferring my creativity was not going to work any more.
This wake-up call forced me to do two things:
* stop blaming my ‘day job’ for my avoidance of the creative work
* dedicate regular sessions – even if only once a week – for writing my novel.
Once I started making and keeping regular dates with my muse, everything got better. I felt more integrity. I savored the sense of progress on the book. I learned how to balance my time and energy, and I shared all this learning with my clients and students. Sure, it took many years to get a polished version of the book out into the world, but along the way I learned how to prioritize things that mattered to me.
The empowerment and satisfaction I gained from making my dreams a priority is something I want for every single creative person out there. Sure, it’s a challenge to juggle all of life’s obligations with our own creative interests. But it’s worth it to feel the sense of integrity and satisfaction that comes with making our creative dreams real.
Since the novel came out in 2012, I’ve been applying the same practices to other passion projects. I’ve learned what works for me to consistently show up for hot dates with my muse. I’ve produced the following passion projects:
* Writual Blessings card deck
* Series of Paris paintings
* 100 Days of paintings (2015)
* Series of illustrated Journey Blessings
* 185 Cup-related art pieces
* and more…
My current passion project is a series of daily watercolor portraits. I’m on number 44 of 100 and am learning so much. Indeed, there are days when I don’t have the oomph or time for this project. But somehow, it happens.
Most importantly, I am not constantly at battle with myself. My creative side and my work side know how to respect each other and get along so everything we want and need to do gets done. This gives me a sense of wholeness and integration that feels good. I can rest assured that I am doing the right things at the right time. Let me tell you, my nervous system is much happier.
As a coach, I bring this approach to my clients. They LOVE feeling a similar wholeness and integrity. They feel so much better as they move through their days at one with themselves versus at battle. I want this for everyone, so I designed a short and potent class to help people get to their creative work.
My 90-minute online webinar, Prioritize Your Passion Projects, is this Thursday, May 25th. The workshop will be recorded if you are unable to make the live session. If you struggle with making consistent time, you’ll want to join us for this class where I share my best practices for making time and space for your creative joy.
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