Weed Your Creative Garden
Now that you’ve made room for your creative garden, tilled the soil and planted the seeds here, I want you to prepare for the inevitable invasion of weeds. These are creative barriers that often hold us back. Weeds pop up quickly and their roots run deep. In the early days of your garden, it’s often hard to tell what’s a weed and what was planted with intention. Sometimes, the “weeds” in our garden are the colorful wildflowers in someone else’s garden. The good news is, when you learn to identify the weeds it’s easier to pluck them early before they get out of control.
Here are some of the barriers that cause creative blocks and tips to rid the weeds from your creative garden. Scroll down to find what’s applicable to you!
Lack of Time
I don’t know about you, but when I hear that we all have the same 24-hours in a day, I cringe. While technically this it true, but we all face different responsibilities with various levels of assistance. Your 24-hours may look very different from mine. If your weed is lack of time, I’ve been there! It can feel impossible to squeeze in 5-minutes for yourself, but I strongly believe that making time for creativity is one of the most important things you can do for your mental health.
Here are a few tips:
Make sure you have a few art supplies out for easy access. Lowering the barrier to entry will make a 5-minute creativity session easier because you won’t be searching for your sketchbook.
Look for pockets of time when 5-10 minutes could be allocated to your creative well-being.
Scrolling on social media? Use that time to draw something that’s right in front of you.
Stuck in a waiting room or in the school pick up line? Use that time to write or sketch.
If you have little ones, bring them in on the fun! Have a 5-minute doodle session together after lunch.
Wake up 10 minutes earlier or stay up 10 minutes later to honor your creative spirit. It’s worth it, I promise!!
Lack of Energy
When you are on the hamster wheel of do, do, do, it’s hard to see the importance of getting out your art supplies. Low energy may be caused by many things: not enough rest, health issues, poor diet, or little to no help at home… just to name a few. Energy will typically ebb and flow. When it’s low, it’s hard to push through because, well, you don’t have the energy.
Here are a few tips:
Determine the root cause. It could be vitamin deficiency, lack of exercise, pressures of never ending responsibility, mild to severe depression or anxiety, to name a few. If you’re experiencing low energy over an extended period of time, it may be worth a visit to your doctor.
If you know you are simply in a busy season of life, I’ve got good news. Taking 5-10 minutes out of your day to draw a silly picture, write down what you’re feeling or toss color on a page, will create the momentum you need to keep going in your creative practice. Things in motion stay in motion!
Lack of Inspiration
When you finally make time to create and you have no idea what to draw, paint, or make. Where have all your ideas gone?! A lack of inspiration usually comes when it’s been a long time since you’ve made creating a priority. The good news is that lack of inspiration is the easiest barrier to overcome!
Here are a few tips:
The “Do Something” Principle from Mark Manson reminds us that we need to DO SOMETHING before inspiration and motivation show up. Action before inspiration before motivation. That’s why the quickie creative exercises I share are so important. 5-minutes to doodle or write on a consistent basis will call inspiration to you. The more inspired you are, the more motivated you feel to continue creating.
A lack of inspiration can come from not paying attention to the world around you. What delights you? What draws your attention? Look closer: look at the shadows of the tree dancing against a building, the tiny spring buds popping to life, the texture of the brick, the shape of the clouds, a window display, your colorful meal…. Inspiration will come pouring into you as soon as you start paying attention.
Capture inspiration in the moment! Take a picture or jot down notes about what inspired you and why. Keep an inspiration board - either physical or digital so that you can turn to it when you are feeling uninspired.
Fear and Imposter Syndrome
Fear creeps up differently for everyone. Fear of failure, rejection, embarrassment, vulnerability. What will people think of me? What if it’s not good enough to share? What if it’s just a waste of time? What if I run out of ideas? Who do I think I am showing up to create? I’m not an artist. I’m not creative. Who am I to take time away from my responsibilities to create?
Do any of these thoughts resonate with you? It’s normal to feel like an imposter. It’s normal to feel fear. In her book, Big Magic, Elizabeth Gilbert talks about fear showing up when she starts a new project. She uses the example of going on a road trip. Fear is going to come along for the ride, but fear does not get to choose the music or hold the map. Fear is NOT in control. If you haven’t read Big Magic, I highly suggest it. The audiobook is even better - it’s like a pep talk from the kindest, most gentle friend.
Here are a few tips:
Read Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert. Seriously, it will change your creative world.
Do it anyway! You are an innately creative being. It doesn’t matter what others think. It doesn’t even need to be any “good”. You will never run out of ideas as long as you are in action (see the Lack of Inspiration section). You deserve to nurture your creative spirit - just as your body deserves good food, exercise and sunshine!
Practice pushing yourself to the edge of your fear. In order to grow, you must get out of your comfort zone. Amy Porterfield uses the term “DSD - Do Something Different”! If you are always holding yourself back from painting because you don’t think it will be any good, DSD! Pick up a paintbrush and start making strokes. If you are afraid to share your writing because it’s too vulnerable, DSD! Join a writing group, push through your fear and share your truth. I believe in you!
Expectations and Perfectionism
Do you struggle to take what’s in your mind and recreate it on the page or canvas? Having a clear vision for your work oftentimes makes you overthink the process. Or you start creating and keep adding layers or doing revisions because it’s never quite good enough? Do you hold yourself back from creating because you don’t have the skillset mastered?
Perfection is an impossible standard and a very difficult weed to banish from your creative garden. Having high expectations on the outcome will often hold you back from beginning.
Here are a few tips:
Create for the sake of creating. Let go of any expectations that you will show your work. Don’t put so much pressure on your creative spirit! It’s ok to come to the page with a general idea of what you want to work on, but stay loose! If you are painting a flower, don’t get hung up on it being a perfect representation. Allow the creative process to flow freely. You never know what magic will appear before your eyes!
Done is better than perfect. As creatives we can get carried away by adding just a little more over here, another stroke over there and, before you know it, you’ve done too much and ruined a good thing. When you find yourself starting to fuss too much, take a break! Go for a walk, get a bite to eat, go to sleep and look at it another day. When you come back, you may be surprised by how great it looks. Or, you may find that it really does need another piece to balance it out.
Embrace the notion of 100 bad paintings or 200 terrible words a day. There isn’t a creative spirit out there that makes beautiful, inspiring, breathtaking work every time they show up to the page. It’s quite common to feel blah about most of the work you produce. The magic is in the gems that pop up after 50 failed pieces! In order to find your style and make progress in your creative journey, you simply must create! Good, bad or indifferent, you must show up to the page (or the instrument or the dance floor….) consistently for the sake of creating.
Take time to consistently weed your garden. The more you show up and pluck the weeds that are standing between you and your creative garden, the more lush your creative bounty will be. If you take only one thing away from all these tips, let it be: Keep showing up! You and your creative spirit deserve it!