It has been a long winter and it has been so grey! As a creative who loves colour and light it has been a slog. Finally we are turning a corner and I really hope my colours come back soon!
I'm not sure it is possible to keep being creative. It is not a tap you can turn on and off. My creativity is very much linked to my well being. When your creativity is your job, there's the added pressure of making it pay. In these days of underfunding of the arts and art education, there is also trying to prove that it is possible to live from a freelance career in the arts, but not only does it need creativity to make art, but creativity to keep innovating in a creative business.
If you're juggling both ends of a creative business and a full life of other responsibilities, it's easy to feel over worked and underpaid!
I have to remind myself that wellbeing means looking after my whole being and that I am a human being not a robot. Sometimes though I step back and see just how much I am doing and no wonder I start to feel overwhelmed.
In April I interviewed Textile Artist Alice Fox and asked her how she stays resilient and copes with running a creative business. You can read the interview here.
I listened to a Radio 4 programme about resilience in which it described resilience as about being strong and standing firm. But it's also about having the strength to say 'no', to realise where your boundaries are and that not everything can be accomplished all at once. That's a fine lesson for someone who has high ambitions and is very impatient!! :)
What I have taken away from my interview with Alice is the need to maintain balance. It is about pursuing the different parts that make you you, not just the part that's commercial. My creativity is fuelled by doing new things so for me it is about planning in time to wander, to discover, to try new skills, new foods, and go to new places.
Achieving your goals comes from sticking at it...what ever 'it' is...but not to the detriment of all else. It is such a skill to maintain this balance...and one I am yet to master.
I read an interesting set of statistics about goal making that says that 80% of people never set goals for themselves. 16% of might make a goal but never write it down. 4% write their goals down. 1% write down their goals and review them regularly and they are the highest achievers.
So amongst the juggle of life it is knowing what you want, what you're aiming towards and how to set about achieving that one step at a time. Time to get out the notebook....
You can find out more about my Travel Sketchbook online course by clicking here. This has been an ongoing ambition that has finally come to fruition, through problem solving in the face of obstacles. I am so excited about it!! Join me this summer wherever you are travelling to and create a vibrant mixed-media sketchbook. If you book before 17th May 2018 you can get an Early Bird discount. Use code HHholiday2018 at the checkout.