TIME FOR CREATIVITY
TIME
Specifically, time for creativity
Time to do something that gives you joy and expresses yourself.
Time to express your soul - if you want to go down that road! (I do!)
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Or you know, just having fun!
Playing uses more creativity than we realise.
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Not having enough of it
Trying to 'find it'
Find 'more' of it
Making it
Squeezing it from elsewhere in your life
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But you're on your phone right now. Or Facebook Or Instagram Or the dark hole of emails
You 'found' time to do that.
>
You managed to find a way to 'squeeze' that in
You 'made time' to watch the new season of whatever just came out.
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Now, I'm talking as much to ME as to you here.
I'm all for social media and I love me some mindless scrolling.
It's awesome and quick way to stay in touch.
It's great to see the amazing creations other people are making!
I also love it for inspiration gathering
PLUS
It's a great way to decompress after a long day of work, kid wrangling, house maintaining, physical self maintaining and ALL.THE.THINGS
I totally get that! I'm not saying don't do it ever ever again.
But too much consuming means you just get full and bloated from other people's creation.
Or like junk food, you never really get truly full and nourished and you're always going back for more. But never being fully satisfied.
Too fat and tired to create.
You lose the muscles, skills or even energy to create.
There is a line - from being filled with inspiration and using that energy to create on one side
AND
being addicted to just taking taking takin in and nothing going out
Constipation comes to mind.
Are you getting creativity constipation?
(OMG am I actually just talking about constipation? I'm writing this from flow and not letting my logical mind from editing this message I felt called to share!)
Now, I wrangle a 3 year old full time. House. Work. Relationships. And being pregnant makes everything SO MUCH SLOWER.
I do feel your pain. And that bloated feeling, I am LITERALLY feeling that if I eat my usual amount of food. There is literally something inside me waiting to COME OUT. and I can't consume too much or I will suffer some serious pain.
BUT!! Hard truth time.
We all have the same amount of time as Beyonce (who just had twins!) or that person you know who juggles ALL THE THINGS
Before we get all shamey and guilty about how shit we are.
Just truly think to yourself, maybe you're just not prioritising your creativity.
Which is totally fine! Maybe in this season of life, you life is full of all the things you value right now. If so, let go of the guilt and shame and stand firmly in the choice you have made. You go girl!
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But if you're not. I think you know what I'm trying to say.
Sure, you're busy and all. But if you're being honest with yourself... you haven't truly prioritised your creativity.
Not really in the way that is important to you
Yes - it helps if it was for work... If it was a work deadline and someone else is waiting on you. You totally would do it.
As someone who uses my creativity daily professionally, yeah, maybe it is easier for us to do it. DAILY. ON CUE.
But also not. There is a difference between doing something JUST FOR WORK.
and something for creative expression.
All you creatives know what I mean.
You get burnt out on work stuff and don't feel the joy of being immersed in it. Of the play and fun.
Of the joy in being so INSPIRED that the creations POUR OUT of you.
Also, you'll notice that your work starts to get a bit stale. A bit same same... dull
I'm talking about truly being in flow.
Not the forced-I-need-something-done-now kind.
The playful, fun kind!
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So are you making it IMPORTANT for you and really your IDENTITY that you connect with your creativity?
Not just put it on your calendar like an appointment.
But also prioritised in a way that you prioritise stuff that you don't EVEN THINK ABOUT anymore.
I'm talking:
Having your morning coffee.
Eating food. Showering
Doing Laundry
Exercising
Posting a snap on your Instagram
Watching that TV show.
Having dinners out.
Reading reviews of hotels & tourists spots for your next holiday destination.
I know, there are some serious consequences IF YOU DON'T DO some of those things. Like life or death type.
What if you could see your creativity and doing something creative is just part of your EVERYDAY.
A habit.
an ordinary, perfectly simple and maybe even 'boring' habit.
Not some giant ass project that you do and then it's done.
Maybe it isn't 'time' that's stopping you but your Resistance.
Resistance to this image of your creativity being built up to be this BIG ASS THING that has to be done in this PERFECT WAY.
which includes 5 hours of UNINTERRUPTED time and ALL your tools and making something PERFECT and BEAUTIFUL and it feels in flow and fun and joyful.....
omg no..
I get maybe a total of 8-ish hours of time to do my creative work. PER WEEK. I do this professionally people!!!
Uninterrupted? maybe an hour or two on my 2 work days. Which are also the days I run errands and do a bout a million other admin/marketing/sales/customers service/logistics and general non-creating part of life.
And believe me. I feel you. I honestly do.
I still daydream of long days of just playing in my studio and following whatever comes across my imagination.
But if I kept daydreaming, it becomes another form of consuming. But from my mind.
The muscles still get weak and the constipation is still there.
And to be honest? My own mind interrupts me! The inner critic. Other monkey mind things.
My suggestion? Embrace the Imperfection.
Treat it as part of your everyday - and do something SMALL and even if it feels too ordinary and 'why even bother'?
Bother because it's part of maintaining the habit. Part of putting out something so you don't get constipated!
Another way I stay connected?
Noticing that some things I do - like taking photos of Indigo doing something - I tap into my creativity just a little.
I don't acknowledge it but when I do, I reconnect to it.
Kinda like noticing when your partner does something small for you - like switch on your electric blanket so it's warm when you go to bed - it's so every day that you don't notice it anymore.
And yet, when you do AND you acknowledge it? It helps you reconnect deeper doesn't it!
what if you thought of your creativity as a relationship to a part of yourself that is just as important as a loved one.
Like any relationship that is important to you, you know how essential it is to make the effort AND TIME to connect and reconnect.
Neglecting it doesn't mean it will go away.
Neglect means some serious consequences BUT you've just learnt to live with it.
There is that general sadness in the air. Where you both look longingly at each other but the gap between you is only getting bigger everyday.
I'm talking feeling like something is missing.
Feeling a little lost. Like there is something you haven't done.
Not feeling satisfied.
All the usual 'fun' things you do like watching another viral video just isn't enough anymore.
it's the eating too much junk food unsatisfied feeling.
You can ignore it for a while but when it really gets your attention. It can feel even HARDER and more OVERWHELMING to try to fix it then.
So I know some people just put it down as 'I'm just not really that creative'
or 'I don't have time for that - it was something I did when I was younger' (and had more time I presume)
Like any relationship that you've lost touch with. I know it may feel like you need to go BIG! Like couples holiday! or do something extravagant! 12 dozen roses! Go skydiving together?! Quit your job and make 100 artworks for 100 days straight!
BUT WHAT IF YOU JUST STARTED WITH SOMETHING SMALL. SOMETHING ALMOST EVERYDAY AND SEEMINGLY NOT 'WORTH THE EFFORT'.
We like simple and 'ordinary' because it means you're more likely to do it more often. Maybe even daily!
Like making a cup of tea and spending 10mins together to talk about your day.
(for me that's journaling & reflecting on inspiration or ideas of where I feel that my current creative project is going. It reconnects me to my creative practice)
Like taking 2 minutes to acknowledge one another and connecting (& committing) to connect again in the middle of the busy-ness of your day.
(for me that's taking photos of little things I see in my environment that my creative self points out. Like a little kid, that notices something new, different or it connects the dots on something you've been thinking about
Or just jotting down that random idea or quote or song or colour that strikes me. No questions asked about why or for what. I just notice, acknowledge it and record it for reference later.
I think it's the acknowledgement part that keeps me in good relationship with my creative practice. EVEN when I'm in the middle of pushing the shopping trolley and trying to navigate a busy grocery store with a hungry, tired 3 year old.)
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I bet, if you really dug deep. You'll know within. An inner knowing if you like.
That little voice that's been calling out to you to 'come play with me!' or 'I miss you - I miss us!'
And you will KNOW what one small thing you can do, something 'ordinary' and simple you can do to reconnect.
Don't question if it's 'good enough' or 'enough to make a difference'.
Just start. Embrace the Imperfection of it.
and then, you'll find you don't need to FIND time. You've found something better. You've found the little spark you need to make that relationship AMAZING again.
x Brenda
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