5 Considerations To Nourish The Creative In You

As a creative, it’s so easy to get lost in the outside noise, beliefs, relations, et cetera; it’s where one goes for experiences to fuel their inspiration, after all. The pull of the outside is addictive and strong, and can overwhelm in such a way that you don’t even notice until it has already occurred.

Here are five things to keep in mind for the good of your creative process:

1. Consider what makes you tired. Not physical exhaustion; the drained feeling you might experience at the end of a tough day. Is it interactions with people? Did you neglect your happy spaces? Were your boundaries crossed? These are all potential drains to your emotional energy, and it’s important to learn where your lines are so you can protect yourself from going past them. In respecting your personal requirements and lines, you create respect for yourself, and give yourself the space you need to create.

2. Mental minimalism is about keeping out the clutter. Keep the good, the useful, and the instructive. This helps bring clarity to your actions, and intention. When you say no to something or someone else, you say yes to you; you are your own priority. Your work will benefit, your personal life will benefit, and puzzle pieces will fall into place.

3. If an interaction with someone in your life is causing you strain, is it beneficial and instructive to keep this dynamic or is it time-consuming, taking away from your focus, and draining your mental safe space? Sometimes it’s important to evaluate whether you are still gaining something in that happenstance. If the answer is no, then maybe it’s time to take a step away and protect your energy.

4. Are you entering the outside because you are seeking? Is being out the right place to be for you right now, or are you actually supposed to sit and breathe for a moment? Doing for the sake of doing is not inspirational; ask yourself why, and imagine different scenarios of peace until you find the right one. Creatives are like bees; we go fill up on pollen, but then must return to the hive in order to make the pollen into honey. Giving yourself the okay to slow down at times is a valuable skill to help maintain your creative flow.

5. In the empty, you can find the intention. Respecting your need for company, for outside time, or for personal space gives you the ebb and flow your creativity likely needs. The quiet spaces are when the inspiration you’ve been gathering can come to fruition, transitioning from intangible to tangible.

These considerations have been pretty loud in my conscious lately, as a creative myself. This year has so far been a very intense self-building process, initiating boundaries for myself and around myself to better nourish my inner muse. It’s not about protection; I use the word nourish very intentionally here.

Asking the hard questions to ascertain whether meeting with a person is healthy, if going to that event is truly a good idea for me, making sure my focus is in the right place—these are all things I ask myself on a weekly, if not daily, basis. Recently, I found that saying “no” to hanging out with just anyone, taking over a responsibility as a favor to someone else, or even just fixing a situation because it’s easy, means I have the energy and bandwidth to take on the things that do make sense; new work opportunities, new creative opportunities, new partnerships, and positive influences in my current chapter. This might not always be the case, but today it is, and following these personal requirements lets me follow my path a little more clearly.

What are your questions for yourself today? For this week? Maybe even for this month?

Are you meant to be retreating for internal reflection, or is now the time to push yourself a little and get out there in a new way?

Give yourself some generosity. At the end of the day you are a human being, not a computer, and a human being needs space to breathe (whether that’s out in the middle of nowhere or the midst of a bustling crowd is entirely up to you).

This was so enlightening for me to experience, and to write about. I can't wait to meet the enlightened YOU that will follow your reading this!

Your Friendly Editor,

Zoe P.