Is your creativity blocked by headwinds? 4 helpful ways to keep moving.
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Is your creativity blocked by headwinds? 4 helpful ways to keep moving.
Why revisiting your anchors can help propel you forward in your creative journey.
Anchors are those heavy, metal things, connected to chains and fastened to boats. When thrown overboard, they sink to the ocean floor. They ensure vessels don't float away, no matter how rough the seas.
I’m using the anchor, here, as a metaphor.
If creativity, in some form, floats your boat, this post is for you.
A force we all face as we create things is the strong headwind of disruption. These winds threaten forward momentum, can toss and stop us, throw our projects or resolve against the rocks.
Life gets busy, the income-generating tasks tire us out, family commitments require so much of us that all the good intentions laid out in moments of inspiration get dashed. Creativity capsizes.
How do you keep your creative goals from drowning or disappearing in the busyness (and challenges) of every-day life?
Revisit your anchors.
1. Do a quick gut check to reconnect with your creative purpose.
A gut check is a way to quickly, intuitively assess where you’re at. Some helpful questions that can reconnect you with your creative purpose include:
Why am I doing this anyway?
Why did I want to create in the first place?
How will the world be better because of what I offer it through my creativity?
You have something to write. You have a song to sing. You have an inventive idea that can transform lives and if you don’t do it, who will?
I’m not talking about how you get that idea to the world or how you publish the story or where you perform the song (and how you’ll then collect the royalties). I’m talking about the joyful and mundane and infuriatingly important act of creation.
Why are you doing it and when?
Essentially, I’m reminding myself and yourself of your main anchor. There is a reason you create.
The vision I return to when I feel lost in what I’m doing, have moments of discouragement, or need to evaluate if I should pursue an opportunity is captured in the following phrase, distilled and clarified over time:
I need to tell stories that affirm the value of life and capture the imagination of the heart.
That, there, is a key anchor that grounds me. It then helps me to adjust my sail and catch the wind so I can venture onward.
2. Write down the reason why you are compelled to create.
I’ve locked my reason to memory. Repeated it. Written it down.
Maybe you’ve captured a similar phase in a journal. It may be on a sticky note that you affix to your mirror so that every time you put on your makeup in the morning or shave you’re reminded of it.
Perhaps that much contact with said ‘reason’ is overwhelming, so you need to tuck it away in a place where you know you’ll stumble upon it again in six months (the inside jacket pocket of your winter coat if you’re in Canada and have regular winters) or a Google reminder set to notify you every three months.
Whatever you need and however often you need to be reminded, write down your why.
3. Share your work with people you trust
Some people create simply for the satisfaction of the creative process itself. However, most people I encounter who write or paint or draw do so because they want others to engage their work.
When you create something it’s important to share it.
You may need to set terms around the sharing (e.g. “It’s just a rough draft” or “Please give it back” or “I don’t want critical feedback, just your gut reaction….”) but you need to share.
Maybe that means starting a Substack or an art-focused Instagram account to have an immediate outlet for your craft.
Ultimately, creating is about enhancing people’s lives, serving others, and expressing truth that is vital.
The risk of sharing and the act of humility to offer work to others reminds you what your creativity is all about and also serves to realign and redirect your creative output if it’s off track of its purpose.
Sharing your work keeps you anchored to your purpose if you’re honest and open in your craft.
4. Reflection time in the quiet and lonely.
A thinker I admire, Gordon Pennington, says that “there’s no substitute for the quiet walk with God.” I quote him from memory (from a speech I heard him deliver years ago in Kona, Hawaii). The words strike me still.
Taking time to reflect on everything that comes with the creative journey is important. If your creative gift is applied in the marketplace, then there can be a lot of feedback, criticism, and input that comes with the territory that can impact your why.
The market may also demand content that you’re not passionate about.
You might feel dislocated from your tribe or audience and don’t know where to find them. There can be a hundred other things that pile up and cause you to feel disconnected from who you are as a creative and why you create.
When you start to really feel all that, it is usually a sign that you haven’t been reflecting enough. I’m not talking navel-gazing introspection. More like Frederick Buechner’s exhortation to “listen to your life.”
You know in your knower who you are and what you’re called to as a writer or artist. However, it takes time, care, and attention to remain connected to that purpose.
Wherever you are in your creative journey and no matter how you’re using your gifts to serve others with your craft, I hope these 4 suggestions are helpful to you.
If you know someone who will be encouraged in their creative walk by this post, please share it!
Grateful to share the creative journey with you!
~ AK