Some creatives (not all of course) have had more time on their hands than ever this year. But what has that really meant for many creatives? More time to...⠀
write your book/ script/ screenplay?⠀
paint, draw, edit that film, shoot that personal photographic project?⠀
focus on your side hustle?⠀
dream up a new career?
create a business?⠀
grow a business?⠀
create something, anything??
We’re seeing it everywhere. Real things people have to show for from this additional time. Maybe you even feel some envy creeping in. Why is it so easy for them? What is wrong with me? Why haven’t I used this time? And so the vicious and negative cycle of comparison, self loathing and self berating goes on.⠀
If only the secret to creating was as simple as having the time.
A creative process is not a ready made thing that slots into a chunk of time. Ready made creative beings we are, but we require so much more than just “time” in order to create something meaningful. Yes, having the time can be helpful. But so too can having self compassion, an ability to focus, feeling safe, feeling supported, being playful, laughing, a sense of connection (and much more).
Being fully in your process as opposed to someone else’s is what is really needed. This is about your timing.
For some, this opportunity of time met them and their own creative process at the “right time”, as it were. But let’s not focus on them. Let’s focus on you. Your process. Where you are. What you need. If you’ve discovered that it’s not actually just time you need, then that’s a great discovery to have made. ⠀
Please remember you are not a ready made thing just waiting for time. You are always in the making. You are endlessly creating. Just like Winter, sometimes things are going on under the scenes that you just can’t see yet. But your Spring will always follow your Winter.
So, where are you right now? What do you need? What you can do? Start small. I like to start with a big hug of self compassion, it usually helps.