On June 21 I posted my ‘last’ newsletter.
Not the last one I want to write but since then I haven’t had the desire to write anything. Is it because I don’t have enough interesting things happening around me? Or are my photos / photography not interesting enough to write about?
For a while I thought this might be the case. I have experienced this writer’s / creative block previously. And I got through it – came out perfectly fine on the other side. What makes this time feel different? This time my absence of creativity isn’t only limited to the writing. It spread to the photography as well. Previously I would have at least one option to fall back on and that would spark the other one if you catch my drift.
For the past few months the ‘malaise’ has been hitting me. In a way I know what the problem is but doing something about it is where the difficulty lies.
A glimmer of hope.
Despite my negative attitude (I won’t lie, I am not always positive) towards the situation I did find moments where inspiration struck. I started a simple ‘art journal’ where I focus on being creative – writing, sketches, printing and pasting interesting things which spark my creativity.
Creativity doesn’t outright disappear.
It tends to take a back seat in our lives. It plays second fiddle to things like work, marriages, running a business, running a marathon, etc. For a majority of people creativity isn’t the main thing. Not because it isn’t important but because often you don’t get around to being creative in the ways you want to.
When it does go away understand why – in my case it is a lack of time plus one or two factors in my environment.
Depending on who you ask and what you believe, it is either a skill or talent. Regardless of your take I think it needs to be nurtured. It has to be used as much as possible, at very least once a day.
If you don’t use it slowly it starts to wither. If it is over run by a hectic work schedule it becomes easy to misplace. Between the early mornings and the late nights we often have a little bit of time but we tend to spend it on something wasteful.
On the flipside obsessively trying to be creative yields the same amount of results as no creativity. You force it, sit for hours writing but nothing comes to mind. Then you start wondering why it isn’t working. Six hours of brain storming is enough right?
After the second week I decided to change my approach. Forcing creativity didn’t do what I wanted it to do. I started small. Sketches. Writing for five minutes. Then ten. Then a single post. Not well planned or thought out. Just get it published.
And publish it for yourself. Subscribers are good – people enjoy reading your work but writing under pressure when there is a lot of pressure isn’t good. Maybe you perform well under too much pressure : ) sweet. I don’t so I prefer not to get stuck between that rock and the hard place if I don’t have to be there. Writing, photography and sketching are my hobbies – I already have a job. Despite wanting to into photography and selling prints and stuff, I found it was becoming something which I didn’t enjoy.
It was becoming another job.
tl;dr
Creativity comes and goes. Ebb and flow, wax and wane.
There will be times when it disappears almost completely. Best thing, based on my experience, is to let it come back at its own pace.
Thanks for reading : )