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Coming back to your creative work after a hiatus is hard. Whether you have been having another career for a number of years or just got off track for a while, it is hard to re-enter.
If it has been a short amount of time you can sort of pick up a thread from before. Which can be challenging if there is no energy there. But if it has been a while you may need to give yourself space to be in the not knowing because so much has changed, your values and interests might have changed, your aesthetic might be different. It is hard and it is worth it. You have lived a lot of life and the creative process is so great for helping you process the learning that you have been in. How do you know how to start, how to enter? This is my suggestion: Start with easy small things. Throw away art, or doodles. Get things lubricated by letting yourself be drawn to what you enjoy, what you find compelling right now. The magic that happens is that when you have made a few of these things your creative immagination starts to kick in and pretty soon bigger ideas are calling for your attention.
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Today, after removing the front wall, the collaboration blossomed into something really beautiful. It was like the gallery took a huge breath of air and sunlight and opened its heart to us.
 Recently I have found myself using the term “creatives” as a label or shortcut term for my people. I am also seeing that term tossed around by others. I thought it might be useful to explore what I mean when I call my tribe creatives.
A creative might not know that they are a creative, they might not feel artistic or musical or whatever. I know that I did not- people had to tell me. It is hard to see from the inside. So, these are some of the signs: You have been called passionate- you can dive into an idea with all four feet because you see the ways that it can be so great for the world around you. You have been called a dreamer- your imagination is always on. If you have ever run into a hypnotherapist, they might have told you that you were already in a trance. You often have more ideas than you can follow through on, and may bounce from one project to the next – on a good day it is invigorating and affirming, and it can also lead to a feeling of ineptitude when you see all the dropped projects around you. It can feel hard to trust yourself and your ideas because you know that you have not always been able to stick with one long enough to reap the benefits. A creative is someone who thinks outside the box and makes links between boxes that others might never have thought of.  So you are grumpy- the to-do list is long and boring and never ever done. And you have the "I Want"'s- that nagging feeling that you want something but you can't figure out what. Somehow nothing seems easy- like there is just a lot of resistance going on. You feel pretty distant from your creative practice, and you are eating far too much of the wrong things!
If this is you- or if you have known this feeling- try something for a minute. A quick visualization. Get yourself seated comfortably and let your eyes gently close while you take a couple of deep breaths.  You dream up a creative project that feels right on, and gives you a lot of joy to imagine it, but it never really gets off the ground. In fact after dreaming of it for so long, not only does it lose its joy, but it can actually begin to be a drain on your confidence!
I have so been there, and it is painful! The thing is that you are an adult and you have a ton on your plate. It is really hard to prioritize a creative project when you need to pay the bills, tend to the kids, get the car fixed, buy groceries, and have some sort of a social life. Not being able to get past that first hurdle of getting the project firmly in the line-up of priorities can be what keeps a person from doing their creative work for years and years, and this is a travesty. The world needs your creative work! If you have a creative itch it is because it needs to be expressed and if you need to express it there are others out there who need to be able to connect with it! It is part of the collaborative project of our human culture- we are all in it together and we need each other’s wisdom, questions and creativity. I believe firmly that each of us has something very particular to offer the world and it is our job to do it. And it is not always easy to know what that thing is and to find the energy to make it happen. |
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