The power of subtraction
In my last blog I wrote about how stress and "the tyranny of the Now" can hinder the creative spirit. I shared my personal challenges with impending deadlines and feelings of being overwhelmed. Then I asked my good, gentle readers to post comments about their creativity blockers.
The floodgates were thrown open and the comments flowed! I posted the same request for comments on Facebook and received some very heartfelt comments. So, in this latest installment of Maggie’s Musings, let’s look at some of the comments and see what we can learn from them. (Honestly, it would be so much easier and lighthearted to write about a funny scenario at a bead store, but we need to talk about creativity.)
Let’s get right to some of the comments. Here’s one from Beki Haley, owner of Whim Beads:
"My list (sadly) is huge right now!
Too many things to get done at once, so my mind is overwhelmed. Working too many hours so by the time I get home I'm too exhausted to consider beading.
The house is a mess (read back to the too busy for my own good part) and I can't concentrate.
I know what I want to make but my studio is the aftermatch of a tornado and I can't find the supplies I need.
I'm too hungry to think.
The new puppy is getting in to everything!
The new puppy wants to play!
I need new glasses."
Okay, this pretty much sums it all up for me! Somehow it’s reassuring to hear that Beki struggles with some of the same daily serenity stealers that I do. And I know you won’t believe this, but my dog JUST NOW decided he had to go outside.
I’m back, and here’s a comment from wendyoes:
"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. … Somehow, we need to put ourselves on the list of chores."
The following comment made me laugh, made me cry. Tina M. Fritz wrote on my Facebook page:
"I have a basset hound, who, as soon as I sit down to bead comes and sits and stares at me and whines which within 5 min turns to baying. I have a really busy home. Husband, kids, pets, school, and work, everything tries to steal my beading thunder."
I replied to her comment, "That hound needs to get a hobby!"
Hope Blackwell Boothe wrote this:
"Life, my part-time job, pressures of family and home, not enough hours in the day, these are all things that block me from beading. Sometimes I'd rather just go to sleep, for say... a month."
Tell me, can you relate?
These comments are just a few of the many that I rec’d and each one is personal and revealing. Please take a few minutes to read my Facebook page and the comments listed on Maggie’s Musings. Be introspective and see if you find any of your creativity saboteurs in the words and thoughts of others.
In my next blog, we’ll look for ways to get back to beading nirvana.
Thank you, a million, billion times for sharing. I’m off now to check the answering machine. Why does the phone always ring when I’m writing this blog? Sabotage!!!
Maggie Roschyk is an accomplished beadwork and jewelry artist who teaches jewelry making and publishes articles about designing jewelry. She loves teaching aspiring artists and seeing the "aha" moment in their eyes. Her goal is to inspire others to look beyond the empirical moment and strive to create beaded art that reflects their individualism.