I didn’t really intend to take a summer break from this blog. It just sort of happened. I didn’t even go anywhere or do anything extraordinary. Just working, gardening, and… well, not writing.
Let’s not kid myself: I wasn’t taking a break, I was moribund. I think I lost my muse for a time. I just didn’t have any ideas coming about creativity or anything, really. That’s odd, because I’ve still been reading. Reading almost always sparks ideas, but they’ve been more sparse lately. Other than snarky comments on reddit, I haven’t really written anything. Not even journal notes. I’ve recorded some quotes from videos or books, but more for my own introspection and not necessarily with idea synthesis in mind.
All right, I’ll come clean. I’ve been a little depressed. Life is full of uncertainty these days. Some problems are just too big to even get a handle on, much less start strategizing solutions. Costs are up, belt-tightening is in progress, and so that means that projects are put on hold and nothing new is on the horizon. People I love are getting older and sicker. I’m getting older and sicker. I guess I’m just feeling sorry for myself.
So, I decided to write a blog post in the hopes that it will push me a little bit. Stretch the creative muscle a little bit to see if it will loosen up and get moving again.
That’s not to say that I’ve done nothing creative, it’s just muted. The joy isn’t always there, even though I still feel the contentment when I’m able to overcome the resistance.
That brings up one of the quotes that I wrote down recently:
Resistance will tell you anything to keep you from doing your work… Resistance is always lying and always full of shit.” –Steven Pressfield
(I’ve never read The War of Art but I swear it’s on my to-do list.)
The spark of joy is there, if you push through the resistance. The bonds that hold you – be they emotional, temporal, financial, or whatever – can be overcome in small degrees. If you overcome the resistance, you’ll feel its pull less and less, like overcoming the attraction of a magnet to steel; once you break free, the pull is still there, but the farther you are from it, the weaker it is.
If you have enough time, and if the work is ready to be done, then you can even get into flow state. Even if it’s only for a few minutes, that ability to let go and let the creativity flow can bring satisfaction and peace.
I don’t do creative things for money. I do them for me. If ever I do make money from art, I’d fear that the money becomes the end goal. I rather like when I can look down at an hour’s worth of labor and say, “Well, this is crap. But that was fun!” It’s no loss, then. As opposed to looking down and saying, “I’ll never get paid at this rate.” That would steal all of the joy from the work.
So, overcoming resistance is my goal, now. Every time I’m able to just sit down to sketch – even for a minute – is considered a win. This blog post is a win.
When you’re feeling overwhelmed, how do you overcome resistance?