Conquering the creativity saboteurs

My distractions include Spider Solitaire, streaming Netflix, reading & posting in various online forums, bead shopping (mostly just browsing the websites), Facebook, sorting my bead stash, watching activity at my birdfeeders, calling my girlfriends...  okay, now you know my dirty little secrets...  :-)

The biggest block to my creativity is feeling like everything else has to be done before I can give myself permission to sit down and play with my beads (or clay, or metal...)  Dishes, laundry, dogs, vacuuming, dinner, groceries, bills... the list is endless (which means I'm never done and can never work on my stuff).  My biggest dream is to have a studio, two miles from my home, where I can go to do my art and leave all the must-dos at home.  Once I'm immersed in my creative projects, everything else just disappears!

The worst was the two years between the day my father became seriously ill and the day I finally resumed work on the piece that had collected dust all that time. 24/7 elder care for Mom with Alzheimer's and Dad with heart and kidney disease leaves little low stress, distraction-free time. At some point I just decided to do it anyway.

Hey Maggie! Distractions? Not sure I can count that high! I have to admit, the only thing that keeps me on task is arranging enough deadlines ahead of me. Guess I NEED stress to keep me on task!

No question but it's stress. I have a high-stress job and use beading to take my mind off of the office (it's the only time I switch the Blackberry off). But when the office stress gets too much, my creativity switches off and I can't settle myself to bead. Which means I don't get the head space I need to relax, which means I get more stressed... repeat :(

Maggie, I feel for you. I am just coming out of a beading slump. I thought I had lost my mojo and all my energy around actually creating something beautiful was in doubt. I rode it out. Then I saw someone wearing one of my pieces and was stunned by the beauty and craftsmanship I was looking at.

What brought me back to my beading was making necklaces and earings for ME. I rarely make things for me anymore. It seems I am commissioned, or someone I love really likes something I did and I give it to them, or I sell the ones I like the most. Making things for me and my taste reminded me of my love for combining the colors and the textures of a work of beading art. It no longer was about making something to sell, for a gift, or even just for inventory. It was all about what I wanted to feel, touch and experience.

I think that stress does kill creativity. My family has experienced illness and death in the past few months. I could still bead and wanted to bead, but found everything I did boring and took it apart, sometimes 3 and 4 times, and then took it apart one last time after it was finished because I didn't like it. However, when I thought about what I wanted to wear and got out the colors that sooth me most, everything came back together.

I always think of slumps as the space between. It's a void that clears our minds so new things can come through. I don't think anyone ever likes it, but my experience is that it leaves us with more energy and life on the other side and adds value in the long run.

Gracie

We've been married for 27 years, and I could be sitting with him watching TV for hours without 2 words being said, but when I make it over to the craft area that he set up for me, he wants to talk.  Gets me every time!!

Oh man... The biggest things (aside from daily tasks) that keep me from sitting down and creating are: spending too much time on forums, and spending more time planning what to buy.

Sadness is a creativity killer, so is pressure to 'come up with something brilliant'. One of my latest breakthroughs is to accept that it's ok to turn out 'boring' pieces, even using some of my favourite beads in a piece that I'd normally think wasn't 'worthy' of them. It's been a great releaser, and since then I've done some things with colour that I've never been able to do before!

I own a bead shop, so I have many things that block my time for beadworking.  You'd think I'd have lots of time and inspiration being the owner, but that's not the case.  I also offer sewing and alterations, so I have to keep caught up with the sewing first of all.  Secondly, I have bookkeeping, stocking, ordering, website design, flyers to design, and two online studios where I sell my goods.  Add to that lessons in Internet Marketing and my blogs.  And my facebook fanpage.  :D  Should I mention that I have a husband and 2 cats?  lol  Thankfully, the husband is very helpful and supportive.  The cats have other ideas.  

When my head is fried I recharge my  batteries by reading - I head to the library with my list of fiction, biography, history and miscellaneous. If I need to keep my hands busy I crank out some origami. Extra sleep is good too. When I'm rested the bead portion of my brain will kick in once again.

Well my block is the 2 year old, you just can not bead when she is around, because she wants to help, or eat the beads, and when she goes to bed I am just tied. If I am not tied I go on the computer to check emails and finish any other jobs around the house. I also have the Christmas cards to make. A few more years to go then I can start beading again, hurry up years I say.

When I am in a slump or feel a block  for some reason ( I particularly identify with Brightcircle - not finding an idea WORTHY of some "treasured beads")  I brouse the websites, the magazines and my idea book, my stash only to find that I ran out of the urge to make something or ran out of time!

I  try to "strike when the iron is hot" and leave the brousing before I  feel distracted by so many possibilities.  I don't have much stress since I retired from my management job in gaming, but I certainly know the kind of exhausting work and stress prevented me from doing anything creative for about 20 years!

I know, I am very lucky with a supportive husband and the time to dream. My advise, take time for you and your creativity, it is a necessary part of your life!  You only have NOW.

I have days where nothing comes no inspirations at all,I keep trying to figure how to get around that.What do you do when nothing flows?

That's the only thing that keeps me from beading,plus all the housework and things like that.Sometimes it's a chore to do everyday living.

My distraction is life in general. There never seems to be time to sit down and sketch out a possible design. There's always work, laundry, dishes, other crafting projects in the making, someone's wedding or baby shower, grass to cut, birds to feeds, squirrels to chase away... Also, I trace mine and my husband's family history, so I'm always on Ancestry or wanting to go to a cemetery and stroll around there, looking for long-dead ancestors.  I also knit, crochet, spin and am trying to learn to weave as well. Not a lot time left for beading!

I know how you ladies feel, I have been unable to bead for 3 weeks now, everthing I try seems wrong, so my little beads just lie on my desk tempting me,but my brain has just gone to sleep. I had a beak for a week in Wales, but it hasn'y helped. I will not give up just wait until the urge comes back.J.E UK

I second what everyone has said before me -- creativity always seems to come in spurts, and guilt about "shoulds" is a talent of mine.  I often revive when I turn to another, simpler, form of creativity --gardening, quilting, knitting, teaching something to a friend -- or let my brain do something else, like finishing the Times crossword or reading a novel.  Letting myself stop thinking about jewelry somehow gets me thinking about jewelry again!

Last March...2009...my husband was diagnosed with stage 4 kidney cancer...we live in wyoming so an hour and a half drive for chemo once a week thought hw was in remission in sept. and he went back to work and I hit the beads again...found out in nov. the cancer had spread to his brain, so two weeks in Laramie for radiation....no beading again...two days after valentines day he died. Took me a while to pick up that needle...last week I sold his Harley and now I can't bead again...lots of plans but I find myself sitting on the couch staring at the t v or rather towards the t v not really watching it. Hope it comes back soon...I really need the release

Maggie, I sure do understand about the stress zapping creativity; I work at a full time job (not beading or anything near it). When I get home, I need to change gears by playing on the computer or making dinner or something like that.  I need to be careful about eating too much; it makes me sleepy so I sometimes end up napping instead.  Sometimes napping isn't a bad idea though...  I also bead at odd times; if I wake up earlier than usual (3-5 am) I bead.  I enjoy the darkness and quiet of the morning.