It's time for me to confess: the above two images are all I have produced in the past few weeks.
I don't know exactly where I lost my creative juice, my mojo, my creative flow, but if there's a hole in one of my creative paths there's often a sudden halt in all of them.
I read, I write, I make pictures, I edit pictures, I feed myself inspiration on Pinterest, I felt scarfs, I sketch ideas for future projects, I write... I wrote...
I'm not really writing anymore.
Damn.
Often, the flow comes from a schedule, even though that's counter intuitive for a person who is also always trying to be as free as possible from schedule in general.
- I don't set alarms to wake up on time
- I became a freelancer so I could get rid of the (to me) literally physically devastating office hours
- Before the idea of streaming services existed and everyone was still using a tv guide to see when their fav show would come on I QUIT watching tv because I hated the idea of 'having to sit on the couch on time just to watch a show'
I detest schedules. And yet I need them. I don't want to confess that.
Right before this Corona stuff I had spend quite a few months getting myself a schedule. Due to the limitations of my body I can't go outside each day but I had build towards a 'three times a week outside' rhythm: for Pilates and Yoga classes, often combining those with 'other stuff in the city'.
It worked: go outside Monday, recover physically Tuesday, go outside Wednesday, recover Thursday, and so on.
I didn't get to that schedule from week 1, I started with one outing a week, then added another, and then the third.
The 'recovery days' were then spend on either sharing stories about what I had experienced outside the house (a story, a picture, some idea that had entered my brain from that amazing movie I saw...), and/or for my felting practice which led to a pretty nice collection of wearable art.
Where did it go?
The schedule is gone. And instead of experiencing that as more time for creative stuff I don't do a lot of creative at all.
I read more though
That's something I had lost after University. I guess 4 years of reading 500 pages every 3 days, so about 1000 a week, took away some of the fun I had experienced before from reading books. I used to read so much that it drove people crazy. Some people don't understand it when a person can sit for 8 hours on a couch turning page after page after page. I'm not back to my pre-University levels of reading (probably averaging about 8 hours a day), but I'm reading 2-3 hours a day again - it's huge.
But so far it's all input. No output detected.
I'm not interested in telling you about the books I'm reading. And that's all I'm doing right now.
Oh, and doing groceries.
Yes, trying to get a delivery once a week is a job in itself
It's a constant chase for 'an empty slot' in the grocery delivery app - including the adrenaline high when I 'get in'.
Wow, my life is so exciting.
Hey, did I just write a post?
I guess I did. I liked it. I wrote it in one go. I put in bold sentences while I was writing. It felt like a nice rhythm. I started with the two images above - it's all I had on my camera roll. And now I feel like this has become a decent post.
I'll publish it. In a minute. Not knowing if I can write a post again tomorrow. I'm really struggling. Where to get my inspiration from? Where? Where are youuu?
Posh:
Yay!
You know that I hit a 'dry patch' a few months ago. No words left. The few I did have I used on comments on friends posts.
But I knew that all was not lost, because I was reading. A LOT. I guess I have to ingest a certain number of words before any of my own will come out :)
I guess my point is that dry patches come and go. Seth Godin has written a post every single day for the last 15 years. Good for him. Not for me.
So. Long as you let us know that you are actually alive, don't worry too much about not posting. The words will return like swallows to the nest. When it's time.
^^ What he said. :)
<3 He's a smart cookie
Yes - I remember your 'dry patch' very well - you are such a story teller and yet suddenly nothing came out. Yes, it's normal, and OH, I've had many dry patches before... They often transform in something else once you've done a 'complain about writers block' kind of post :D So maybe this is a start.
Well. I'm fine <3 I'm alive. I will see when more words come out. Thanks for your support @bigtom13 :-)
I am going through the very same struggle atm....
Others used to blame Shane...I blame Corona...
This lock-down is driving me crazy and not being able to have a decent talk face to face with someone...like a real talk, or even those little things that seem so annoying at work yet could spark a 1500 word post when you're back home...
Damn...I miss my normality...never thought I'd say that since I am pretty "crazy' guy by default...
Yeah... Stupid Corona...
It's really interesting how we get to know some of our needs in this period. Like 'adult conversation' or even 'vent about work' - then again, there's also a lot of stuff we apparently don't need, and I hope we can sort of find a middle ground after Corona and implement what we've learned from these times.
I remember when I still lived at home and my family had a pretty 'rough time' there was this song on the radio that repeated the sentence 'why is my life so boring' quite a few times. I remember how my mum and I looked at each other each time during that song and said 'I wished life was boring again'...
;-) Something like that. Normal is pretty comfortable.
quoting Terry Pratchett quoting someone else:
“There is a curse.
They say:
May you live in interesting times.”
I so hear you. I haven't worked on any of my manuscripts in a couple of weeks. I just don't have it in me, nor have I made any music. BUT I've been gardening and spending time with my family and connecting with community and... sleeping a lot. lol!
Take care of you. I think a lot of us are needing to switch gears right now. And don't worry, the creative juices will flow again when they're ready. Much love!
Ha! Interesting. And here's all this talk about how we can be productive... I never bought it. This is the time to turn inwards and be more mindful about compensating for the things we actually need to do, like finding creative ways to connect with others - and yes, sleep!
I've been cooking! Damn I forgot. I've been cooking more. That's creative too! New recipes even. Oh I wasn't in an all uncreative mode, just didn't realize. Haha.
Thanks @katrina-ariel - take care of you and your loved ones <3 (And let them take care of you too :D) HUGS!
The flow will come back.
Why not just summarise what yer reading and post that in the meantime.
Or use some aspect of what you read as inspiration?
Yes, I really need to find little 'hooks' like that or this Corona thing will be the total disaster of having more time then ever while producing less than ever as well :D Thanks for the input, I'll meditate on it :-)
Well that's the other strategy, just aim to do nothing and meditate.
Something will probably just emerge out of that!
So interesting. I made this super great list of projects at the Doctor's office right at the beginning of the Corona outbreak. Just yesterday I was telling my sister I don't know what is happening. I have time and I am not doing the projects. I am reading a lot too. I am getting in my car tomorrow and driving to Southern Utah to see and take pictures with my brother. YAY!
Ha! Yes, I remember a list like that from when I knew I would be out of a job for a while... Nothing happened then either! So interesting. I think we actually need this time where we don't 'have to do' anything - when we've had enough time to do the things that are not on a list some inspiration and productivity comes in, because in the end, people want to make themselves feel useful :-)
Glad you're going out for pictures YESSS!!! Enjoy! Say hi to your brother from me :-)
I will say hi to him and we'll get some great content!
Could the makings of a book, "What color is your Boat?"
Because I could be in the same boat.
Hahaha.
My boat is... Green. Because the house I live in has green walls, the front door is green, and when I drink coffee outside I can actually see grass all around :-) So I guess since that's about the width of movement I have these days I will remember this Pandemic as a green period :D You?
I think a lot of what brings creative out is the randomness of life. I have seen a lot of post talking about the lack of an urge to create, even though the shutdown has not really effected me very much, it has removed the randomness of life.
A walk on the beach is a kind of normal thing, it can inspire or not, but when you look down and see a random rock that caught your eye, or a walk on a walking path on you way to the grocery store and seeing a bird buzz by close to someones head, randomness.
With the lock down, we have lost a lot of that randomness in life, the little things that pass blindly in front of us are simply not there right now because we are living in a closed environment. There is no randomness to life right now or at least very little randomness.
Randomness in life - is already inspiring to me :-) Lovely title for a blog! And yes, I agree on your observation fully - we need those unexpected random things in our life to 'steer' our thoughts and eyes and from there we get to new topics. I guess a book or even a tv series could do something similar, but somehow change of environment is a big one :-)
Are you feel okay except for the lack of randomness in life? :-)
I have picked your post for my daily hive voting initiative, Keep it up and Hive On!!
Thank you @chitty! :-) I appreciate it :-)
Goodness, that is how I feel when I write, and have felt that way for the longest from the very first day I started blogging... and continue to feel so every day. And that is because I am no writer by any means. So what do I do? I go against the grain! I just write whatever, lol!
Be safe and take care, my sweet friend.🥰🌺🤙
I have also struggled with creativity for the past month.
I hope you can get your creativity back soon.
I was wondering about you. Actually I thought that you have found something better to do than writing here. Although I still wondered what could that be during a lock down. I wonder a lot!
And now you gave my answer. It would have been my last choice if I had to guess. I was always admiring you for your ability to make a post out of everything! And now the sad news. Inspiration lost...
I wouldn't worry too much, though! Inspiration is like a bird. Comes and goes. Maybe you should through some crumbs on your window's sill to attract her or maybe she already is on your shoulder and you haven't even noticed :)
Amazing how many of us struggle with "flat" spots. I have filing cabinets stashed in my brain and the files are alphabetically arranged in each cabinet for ease of access. The cabinets are divided into sections such as "emotions", "experiences", "history" etcetera lol.
What no one told me about my system is that at some times a thief rocks up and he steals a whole section of filing cabinets. Especially the "peoples names" section and the "things to remember" sections.
So, if I meet a person and they say their name is Paul, the next time that I meet him I say hello Andrew, proud that I remembered his name hahaha
Now I am thinking about chucking all of the files out and leaving my head empty lol.
I love writing but I can never find my pen and I get into the shower with my reading glasses on.
What I am saying with some humor here is that your flat spot will soon be stolen by the same thief that steals my files my friend. And everything will be hunky dory again.
Blessings and take care!