However many creative blocks you overcome, if underneath them all you realise you’ve lost the desire and passion to create, it will end in the same result. No creating plus lots of frustration and unhappiness.
What can often happen is because it’s felt like you’ve struggled to create freely for so long, because it’s seemed like you always have a hundred different obstacles to overcome, that creative passion at the core of it all has been reduced to a mere flicker, rather than the roaring flame it once was.
Imagine it as being like a single candle burning on the ground floor of a huge skyscraper. If you’re on top of the building looking down, there’s no way you’ll be able to see the flame or feel its warmth. All you’ll see is a dense mass of concrete glass and steel....even though the candle’s still burning.
So how do you rediscover this passion through all the dissonance? Here are 5 steps to help you on your way:
- Remember your current situation is temporary. When you’re in a creatively barren phase, it can be all too easy to feel that your creativity has died with no hope of revival. The crucial point to remember though is that your creativity can NEVER die. Go into a coma, maybe, but it can always be rejuvenated, given the right care and attention.
- Reconnect with past creative highs. However distant they may feel right now, there have been times in your past when you’ve been very creative, and when you’ve enjoyed your creativity. Think back to the most vivid memories that come to mind, times when you created as effortlessly as breathing.
- Identify the key elements of enjoyment. As you recall your past creative highs, focus on each of your senses in turn to connect as fully as possible with the experience. Think, too, about the key elements you enjoyed. It doesn’t have to be a memory where you created an elaborate piece of art, focus on the enjoyment, when you gained most pleasure from creating and why.
- Choose a new small project. Again, with enjoyment at the forefront of your mind, pick a simple new creative project you can start, in a form you’ll enjoy. Detach from the “end product” expectation, or debates on the artistic worthiness of your project, and simply follow your pleasure.
- Create! Through the previous steps you’ll have gone a long way to reconnecting with what you really enjoy about creating, as well as picking a new project. The next step is simple: Create! Set aside a block of time to work on your project – write it somewhere you’ll remember, then stick to it.
Follow these steps through and you’ll be able to rediscover that candle of creative passion that’s been steadily burning all along.
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