Getting Creative When Things Are Hard

Today marks exactly two months since the 'black Shabbat' in Israel.

That day I woke up disoriented at 6.30 to sirens and explosions, and life has not been the same since. In hindsight, I can recognize I am severely traumatized, as we all are. What I did not realize is what big a toll it would take on my creativity.

Many of us struggle with creativity, and I want to address that today and go over some causes and some solutions.

I will also share with you how I got back to creating.

Creativity feels a lot like eating healthy. We all know it is better for us when we make it a regular part of our lives, but there are so many reasons why we feel we can not: Daily stress, a full-time job, a tight budget, caring for elderly parents, small children to drive around to a thousand after-school activities. The bottom line is: that we put what is very important and healthy to us, at the bottom of our priority ladder. And then when we make time for it there is enormous pressure to make it 'count' and we must have great results or it was all for nothing.

Another point I hear often: it should not cost money. We are somehow made to believe that our hobbies should be either free or even make money. Both mindsets are not a great building block for creative play. Not that I am saying that it can not be something that is low cost, but the pressure for it to be just that is blocking people from play which is the next thing I will address.

Here is my truth:

1- creativity only thrives well with dedicated time and resources. It needs a no-pressure environment to come to fruition.

Repeat after me: I deserve to have time for myself to play around, write, sing, and dance. This is a necessary part of my life.

(99% of judgment about this is only in our heads).

2- Creativity creates a mental space where we are allowed to discover new things about ourselves. We find out what we like, and what we do not. Failure and misses are all a part of that discovery.

The importance of a blow budget and why you need one too.

One of the nicest gifts I ever received from a business coach was the concept of 'blow budget', you can also call it 'fail budget'.

When I was suffering from severe anxiety to make decisions about my business: what is the worst thing that could happen? For me, this was often connected to investing money that, in all honesty, would not what would break or make my month.

A blow budget is a set amount of TIME and MONEY you decide on. You also decide firmly, that whatever happens, you will not be sad about that time and money, even if it went completely down the toilet. It will not change your quality of life and you will not get into trouble because of it.

Now read that again.

Example: I decide that this month I am going to spend two hours a week (preferably a set day and time) on doodling with watercolors. I am not going to judge the outcome at all. This does not need to be pretty, I am just playing around. If I do not like the outcome, I take that as a gift that I learned what I do not like. I will not judge that time as wasted.

Example 2: I decide that I have a blow budget of $200 per year for experimenting with new materials. I am allowing myself to try new fabrics or dyes and see where it takes me. Many times it will not pan out as I thought it would, and that is fine, I enjoy the play and the learning. This is, by the way, how I discovered Green Indigo and we can all agree that is a great addition to our natural dye palette.

And as an aside: I have a big box of thrifted fabrics that I can use guilt free any time. They cost me less than a coffee and a sandwich when I found them in the thrifstore and they serve me well.

The importance of creative friends.

I met with a creative colleague for a walk in a beautiful park and some coffee. That was so good, both the fresh air and the conversation and the coffee. I can not state the importance of having creative connections enough.

Likewise: meeting designer Jeff Garner for his upcoming movie, left me with so many things to digest and implement. Having convos around creativity and for me specifically community building around textiles tickles my brain and I feel ignited to work on new things!

Just a few months ago we had the greeting card exchange, I hope you continue to write and call each other, for some light fun conversation that is inspiring. Working as a team, or a community makes your creative process less lonely.

The importance of the words 'just now'.

The first weeks after October 7, 2023, when our lives got turned upside down in such a traumatic way, I could not set myself to do anything creative. I had some commissions that needed to get done, but it was hard to concentrate and I felt guilty for even enjoying it while we were dealing with this. I also felt enormous pressure to keep the shop running and to create content, while my head and my heart were somewhere else completely.

This is where I made a radical decision to be kind to myself. I repeated every day: everything is temporary, I am ok and I am safe, I can not be creative 'just now' and that is ok. I am opening my heart to show me when the time is right. Using the words 'Just Now' gifts us hope and light at the end of the tunnel.

And the time was right this week. Just a few hours of experimenting with some new mordant combo that was in my head. Am I wild about the results? Not so much. But I appreciate the work I did there and the process itself gave me new ideas to continue.

Sharing is caring

Do you have any special rituals you do to ignite your creativity? I would love for you to share it with us in the comments.

Here are my results from dedicating time and space to playing around this week, I hope it inspires you to do some creative play too!

PS; would you like to join for a workshop and get creative with me?? I am slowly releasing some limited opportunities for learning in 2024 and you can find them here.