When did survival become the main creative project?
At what point did paying bills become more important than expressing ourselves?
I find myself falling into the cycle of “I’ll get this job to support my art” then “I’m too tired for my art” then “Now I have time for my art, but I’m too focused on survival” then “I’ll get this job to support my art”. LOL. YOU KNOW THE CYCLE.
And somewhere along the way, surviving quietly replaced living creatively.
Feeling burnt-out, slumped over a desk of unopened notebooks, fingers massaging my temples as I took deep breaths, I pondered these questions silently. First the color disappeared. Then the desire. I sat at my altar for days, praying, meditating, weeping for answers, journaling for a sign, stretching for clarity, I felt despair. Depressed. Desperate for a (paid) path back to my light.
Days later…
I was laid off.
(If you’re reading this, feel free to send some positive energy my way. Only positive energy is welcome, and I appreciate it dearly.)
I knew what I was being called to do, and I knew that I did not have the current conditions to answer that call, but that’s because I considered the conditions to be monetary, but creativity thrives when the conditions are right, not when they become expensive.
What I needed, and what I feel like a lot of us are missing, is a creative ecosystem.
Just as certain elements are needed to create a living being, the same goes for creating an environment where creativity can thrive and grow.
That’s not always a new notebook, online course, productivity app, a perfectly curated routine, or even waiting for inspiration.
Because, whether I am employed or unemployed, have the things, don’t have the things, I’m always an artist, and my environment should support that.
My main creative project will no longer be survival.
So rather than waiting for success to build a creatively rich life, let’s redesign the life around the abundance that’s already there. For Free.
Your Spark Didn’t Leave. It Needs Somewhere to Live.
Who am I without my creative spark and where did my spark even go?
You may have lost your spark from your overflow.
If you’re a multi-passionate thinker, you read constantly, collect ideas but may have trouble integrating them, it’s not that you lost your spark, it’s that you had no home for your ideas.
If you feel like you can handle it all honey, always working, feeling disconnected, you might not need more productivity.
Optimizing won’t replace the need for rest, ritual, and home.
And that’s where your spark comes alive.
No matter where you are in your journey, whether you are getting your spark back as a creative, someone seeking a lighter life, or someone just curious, when your life becomes an ecosystem where creating becomes natural…
…you will not have to earn your joy.
Make Your Body a Place Creativity Wants to Visit
Start with making your body a place creativity wants to visit.
There are a plethora of ways to build creative physical safety.
Some of my favorites include stretching, 15 minutes of boredom daily, opening windows, cleaning up. It could be something as simple as switching up your route home, showering and putting on clothes that make you feel like yourself, or making tea to slow down.
We’re telling our nervous system that we are safe enough to play. Don’t let your ideas go to Prince.
Restore Your Creative Emotional Safety
Restore your creative emotional safety by creating without witnesses.
Make something that nobody sees, write the worst poem possible, take photos only for yourself.
I love to sing loudly, and badly (LOL), dance with myself as a ritual, and write with my non-dominant hand.
Every creation does not have to prove our worth.
Protect Your Time Like an Artist (because you are)
One of the challenging parts of building a creative life is navigating employment.
Dedicating 8+ hrs to someone else’s dream can often leave little energy for your own.
This is where designing your life around creativity instead of waiting for success to build it becomes really intentional.
Protecting our time looks like not waiting for a life with no demands to create.
It could be 10 minutes before checking your phone in the morning for you to create space, writing one page a day, or a free weekly artist date (one hour for your inspiration).
Your creativity doesn’t need to be constant; it just needs to be consistent.
Return to the Original Studio
Return to the “original studio”, our mother nature.
When was the last time you sat under a tree?
Have you ever?
Chile, I know…bugs.
But I have sat under trees, hugged trees, talked to trees, and as some of our oldest ancestors, the support and wisdom have been unmatched.
I think gardening outside (both) is a great way to connect with the “OS”, or even something as simple as catching a sunrise or sunset. Take a walk and just notice.
Let nature remind you that everything has seasons.
Restore & learn to accept your own natural cycles as a creative.
Go outside.
Build Your Creative Altar
Where is your creative altar?
Where is the space for your inner artist?
It could be a chair, a windowsill, a specific coffee shop table, where does the creator live?
I think this is a great place to begin building rituals.
Rituals don’t have to be complicated, start by making an entrance.
What I mean by that is to find a set of repetitive actions that symbolizes to your brain that you’re entering your creative world.
This is not a strict routine, but something as simple as asking what wants to exist today?
It could be the same playlist, candle, tea, or spraying a scent before walking into a room.
Your ritual is yours to curate, make it as authentic to your world as possible.
Your Greatest Creative Project
Your creative spark is not gone.
It’s been adapting to environments that could not support it.
It’s still there, waiting for you to create or recreate the environment where it can thrive.
Survival will always ask something of us.
Bills will still arrive.
Jobs will still demand our time.
The world won’t suddenly become gentle because we’ve decided to make art.
But survival no longer gets to be my greatest masterpiece.
My greatest creative project is building a life where my joy always has somewhere to live. I trust yours will be too.
