In this episode, I’ll talk about how to avoid that life smothers your creativity. I’m also going to give you a hint at an offer I have for you if you’re hesitant about joining the Creativity Challenge.
A small caution might be in order. If you’re sensitive to language, I must warn you that the occasional swear word might slip through the cracks when I edit. That might happen if I’m talking about something I’m particularly passionate about.
10 - How to prevent life from smothering your creativity
Show Notes
What am I working on?
- I’m working on a new watercolour symbol
- I’m working on an acrylic series based on scribbled lines
- I’m working on those tutorials (videos)
- I’m working on another local landscape in watercolour
- I’m preparing the last pieces for the October Creativity Challenge which starts in a little over a week
- I’m making plans to do some woodworking and some knitting
- I’ll be starting to make something for daughter’s birthday, and some gifts for friends soon
How to prevent life from smothering your creativity
A couple of years ago, I had to dig up most of my herb bed and flower beds because the weeds took over. Seeing the pictures I took back then gave me an idea for an analogy. (You can see a video here.) Just like weeds can choke other plants by crowding them, all the things you take on can choke the life out of your creativity.
Every time you say yes when you wish you’d said no, it squeezes a bit tighter, pushing your creativity into a corner. Your list of responsibilities grows, and space for creativity shrinks. If you let it go too far, that corner where you keep your creativity gets so small that you feel like your creativity is completely gone.
So how do you avoid smothering your creativity?
By not being the girl who can’t say no, and only taking on the things you can handle without giving up what’s enjoyable and fun. If it isn’t:
- fun
- enjoyable
- essential
- yours to take care of
1. Start saying NO. Most tasks can be eliminated, delegated, or delayed if they’re not on your list of priorities, which should be a pretty short list by the way. An example of the beginning of such a list of priorities might be:
- Taking good care of your own physical and mental health
- Caring for and spending time with your family
- Making sure you have money coming in to live off of
Things like housework shouldn’t be anywhere close to the top of that list. It’s something that has to get done, yes, but I wouldn’t call it essential.
When it comes to saying no, there are many polite ways to do this that won’t hurt anyone’s feelings, and once you get used to saying it, it gets easier.
2. Block off time for what’s important before you add anything else. The first thing you should add to your calendar is your me-time, otherwise, it won’t get on there.
I have more strategies for how to do this in my book “get back to YOU – get back to CREATING”. You’ll find the link to that at the bottom of the page.
Today’s inspirational words are by me, and I said “The day only has 24 hours. You can’t have 25. You need to take some of your time back”.
Are you hesitating to do the creativity challenge?
Maybe you’re feeling reluctant to do the challenge because your creative voice has been silenced for such a long time?
If that’s you, then I’ve created something special for you: A Creative Restart Session
This will be a down-to-earth, relaxd conversation where we get you untangled and ready to create.
It should be an easy yes for you to do this because there’s nothing scary about it, not even the price (which is only $17).
This is so new I haven’t even created a page for it on my website, and I haven’t announced it publicly yet. Grab your time on my schedule now, before someone else does.
Just click the button
If that’s not you, and you’d like to join the free creativity challenge I’m running in October, just click the link at the bottom of this page.
Today’s Creative Prompt is not something you create physically. I want you to look over your schedule and get rid of anything that doesn’t need to be there. Clear out some time for you.
That’s it for me for today. Thanks for listening to the Creative Explorer Podcast. The next episode will, among other things, be about how to get creative ideas and what to do with them. If you have any questions, just reach out to me at linda@lindaursin.net Remember to rate and subscribe to the podcast on iTunes.
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