April subscriber post

Slow growth

Oh my brain hurts. As we clock into spring and the days offer up more opportunities, I am tired! There hasn’t been enough juice in the tank for me to accomplish all that I set myself to do. My mind, body and soul haven’t been working together and I am left feeling drained, rather than excited about the season ahead. Am I alone in that?

Should I continue with my narrative that “Spring has sprung the grass has ris’, I wonder where the birdies is?” and keep everything light and fresh? I see so much of how we are lifted by the new, how this season offers renewal. And it does! But I have been out of kilter with the seasons as I asked too much of myself through the winter and now arrive in spring somewhat ill prepared and bedraggled.

The purpose of my meditations on creativity are to inspire, to encourage, but also to show the realities of living with a creative brain. Sometimes I am firing on all cylinders, sometimes bereft of energy and ideas. It’s a hard one to share that.

Creative block comes from different places, sometimes from too many ideas, sometimes from too few. Usually from overwhelm and under nourishment. I call my site ‘The Nurtured Artist’ because I am aware that flow doesn’t come without nourishment and yet, as a creative and a business owner, keeping the trajectories of creativity and energy on the permanent up-and-up just isn’t a realistic option.

I’m accepting that maybe encouragement isn’t always a ‘you can do it’ pep talk. Perhaps like me you’re not in your best place right now. Perhaps the encouragement is to stay small and curled up for a while longer.

I love the quote, “They tried to bury us, they didn’t know we were seeds” (attributed to a few writers!). Perhaps this year you’ve been deeply buried and it’s going to take a while longer to find the light.

Read on to discover how I deal with overwhelm, creative block and understand the ups and downs of life and creativity…..