It has been a terribly long time since my last post, and for that, I apologize. Thankfully, my line hasn't been a reflection of this blog in recent months. I've made and listed several new items, as well as created several new sites for you to follow Triptyk on.
The first of these pages is a likeable Facebook page for Triptyk Clothing which you can find here. It'd make my day if you'd give it a like and a share when you get a spare moment. It won't take you long, and will prevent you from missing out on any upcoming discounts and promotions.
My final order of business, is to announce that over the course of the coming weeks, I will be moving my shop blog over to Tumblr. All of the posts on this blog will remain, but I most likely won't post anything new on here. I apologize if this is an inconvenience for you, and hope you'll continue to follow Triptyk after I've made the switch.
-Emmuh Z Scribe.
Etsy
Facebook
Pinterest
deviantART
Tumblr
Wednesday, January 15, 2014
Saturday, October 12, 2013
The Creativity Complex: or, a long post that has nothing to do with Etsy
Inspiration is an odd thing. It seems that it's always around when you can't use it, and when you actually need it, it's gone for weeks. It's like we're constantly chasing creativity, without any sort of map or guide leading our way. Some people try desperately to bring for inspiration and creativity by paying money for seminars and books, courses and so on, while others are so inspired they wish it would just go away and let them sleep for a while. The more I think of the odd nature of creativity and inspiration, the more I see it as just another body we must sustain.
The Creative Body:
If you think of creativity as a separate body within yourself, you can begin to break it down and see the needs it has in order to be cultivated. Much like a small, semi-helpless house pet, it's your duty to take care of it, or else it will die. Every person's creativity; like every living creature, has the same basic needs. Of course, every person is different, and therefor every creative body needs different things in different doses alongside these basic needs, but ultimately, they can all be cared for in basically the same way.
The Needs of the Creative Body:
The basic needs of the human and creative body are the pretty much the same. Nourishment, Rest, Air, Shelter, and Love/Appreciation. Thankfully, fulfilling the needs of your creative body is much easier, and cheaper than caring for a small pet or another human being. Almost everything you need to keep your creative body healthy and thriving comes from within anyway.
Inspiration for Dinner: Nourishing the Creative Body
Without food, bodies die. Just as I'd certainly fall over if I were to stop feeding myself, your creativity will do the same. Luckily, when it comes to creativity, you can pretty much always revive it, though it is more difficult and time consuming than if you had fed it in the first place. The most obvious, filling food for creativity is inspiration. You can feed your creativity snacks like stress about deadlines, self-doubts and stubbornness, but these do to your creative body what I'm imagining a supersized double quarter pounder meal does to your actual body. Sure, it's an easy solution when you're hungry and tired and feel like you're out of other options, but it never really does make you feel much better.
Inspiration is almost mythical. It's something we've heard exists, and believe in ourselves, but never seem to be able to hold on to for more than a moment. Just when we finally catch it, it fleets before we can make use of it. And yet, we absolutely need it in order to be fully creative entities. To catch inspiration, you must first create it. Just as primitive people had to create tools to catch their food, we have to create metaphorical tools to capture inspiration.
What inspires you? For every person it's different, and usually ever changing. One moment you might draw inspiration from steampunk, while the next you find yourself obsessed with geisha culture. Inspiration and creativity are in a constant ebb and flow, a push and pull. Like everything in life, it is constantly moving, changing, getting better, then worse, then better again. And yet, if you surround yourself with things that have created inspiration for you at some point, you will find inspiration abounds.
Sometimes we get so caught up in a current inspiration, that we forget the things that inspired us before. When you find your creative body getting hungry, go back and watch Lord of the Rings again. Re-read your favorite book when you were 9. Listen to 80's music and dance like a complete idiot. The smallest things can spark a crazy buffet of inspiration, but often, we have to find it ourselves.
If you find you're still uninspired, try doing something totally new and radical for you. Now, I am not by any means telling you to go bungee jumping, (in fact, please don't!) but I am saying to push your comfort zone a little. You can push your comfort zone, while still being comfortable, and not risking your life. It can be done with the simplest parts of your daily routine.
If you like Apatow-esque comedies, watch The Hours, or any other famously depressing movie. If you like chick-flicks, watch a hardcore gangster movie. If you love video games, play Monopoly with your entire family. If you like to spend a lot of time away from home, force yourself to stay in your room all day doing stuff you love, without any human interaction. If you love meat, be vegan for a day. If you always eat healthy, go buy yourself the most fudgey brownie you can find. Do these things without judgement, open-heartedly. Really try to enjoy them, even if it's hard. Sometimes those torturous moments; like when you're forced to listen to Katy Perry at full blast, can actually bring great inspiration, even if it's perhaps spurred by a negative reaction. You need a small dose of "This is why I'll never do that," once in a while to maintain your grounding.
Just Go to Sleep Already! Resting the Creative Body
There are times that, try as you might, you just can't get inspired. You may do every single thing on the list above, and some more, and still you just aren't feeling the inspiration. Instead of overstuffing yourself, and pushing onward, you need to take a step back, and let your creative body rest.
Like every person, each creative body functions differently on different amounts of rest. Some people are hyper-creative for weeks on end, then suddenly find themselves in a month long crash. Others are only creative here and there, while some are only creative once in a blue moon. Between these three major types of creative bodies, there are countless, maybe even hundreds more.
The hardest step of caring for the creative body, is resting it. It can often be difficult to decipher whether your creativity needs nourishment, or rest. It's easier for most to assume that they're simply uninspired, and continue on trying to find that bit of inspiration to keep them going. This overfeeding of the creative body, is a destructive, but all too common cycle. In thinking you are uninspired, you scour for inspiration, taking it from places that would normally be wells, but have been reduced to mere crumbs over time. The more you try and try for inspiration, the more you destroy the tools you made earlier in the process. It is in this moment, where nothing seems to inspire you, that you must step back and realistically look at the situation.
If you cannot nourish your creativity with the things that normally always bring forth some spark or idea, you need to rest it. Resting the creative body is physically, and emotionally very easy. The most struggle can come from within the mind, if you allow it. It's easy to get caught up in a negative train of thought when resting your creativity. It's common to berate yourself for not being creative, for not being inspired. For me, this is the most difficult part of caring for the creative body. I often find myself feeling obligated to create something, even though I can't stand the thought of sewing, writing, drawing or really doing anything. I get so used to feeling creative 95% of the time, that when it is time to rest my creativity, I feel like I'm missing a part of myself.
Resting the creative body is simple. All you do is nothing. Just be totally and completely uncreative for as long as it takes for that huge idea to come, (because it will, trust me.) For some, this amount of resting time is a few days, while for others it can be a few months, or even years. This is the perfect time to do those things you've been wanting or meaning to. Reorganize your work space, play 2,000 games of Solitaire, watch every episode of your favorite TV show back to back. Spend time out in the world, with either friends or family. Let yourself forget completely about all of your personal creative projects. Avoid things that remind you of the project you're taking a rest from. Don't read if you're a writer, it makes you feel guilty for not writing. Don't look at DIY blogs if you're a crafter, again, it will make you feel guilty for not crafting.
Guilt is usually the thing that sets the wheels in motion when it comes to a damaging train of thought. It's common to think, "Oh, I'm being so unproductive right now," when you're resting your creative body. That single thought can lead to moodiness, depression, temper tantrums, and feelings of self-loathing or uselessness. Resting your creative body is the opposite of being unproductive. Just as you wouldn't say after a great night's sleep, "Sleeping 8 hours was seriously unproductive," you should never say the same about your creativity. In order to function properly, it needs to rest. The more you force it and strain it, the less powerful your creative body becomes. After a while, it starts to get so loopy that you find yourself creating... well, crap.
You'll find that if you rest your creative body for the time that it needs, without berating yourself, you will have actually saved time by doing nothing, than had you forced yourself to keep on creating when you couldn't. It's like doing the dishes at 4 in the morning with a flu. They will get done, but you'll find that when you wake up, you're most likely going to need to rewash half of them because you missed spots when you were so drained you could barely see.
Quit Smothering Me! Oxygenating the Creative Body
Air and rest are very similar when it comes to the creative body. A big part of caring for your creative body, is knowing when to leave it be. If you think of it as a small child or housepet, you'll realize that there is no way you can expect to play with and cuddle it 24/7 without doing some kind of serious damage.
With any living thing, you must let your creativity breathe. Often we find that we try to put ourselves into one or two categories as creative people, and then stick to those solely. We often completely miss out on hidden talents and inspirations by doing this. For example, I have been writing stories for as long as I can remember. Even before I could actually write, I scribbled "stories" only I could "read" into notebooks and journals. Once I took on the label of 'writer,' I started to discredit every other creative interest I had. I gave up completely on my once dream of being a musician, I stopped caring about acting, and didn't allow myself to further explore sewing. I saw all of these other creative endeavors as distractions from my "only purpose;" writing. Had I not boxed myself off as a creative person, I could have learned guitar, starred in a few local plays, and even be further along with my clothing.
By boxing my creativity into one category, I stifled it, and nearly almost killed it completely. It was only when I started allowing myself to explore other channels that I started creating full-force again. I had to be open to anything in order to keep my creativity alive.
Bring air to your creative body by trying that project you have an idea for, but is maybe "not your style." Don't force yourself into a creative category. If you're a writer and you want to make a candle, make the damn candle! If you're a seamstress and you want to draw a super-villain, go draw, NOW! Do what you really want to do creatively, not what you think you should do. Follow your inspiration wherever it leads you. Even if your creative urge is to build a Sims mansion or create elaborate HTML coding, just do it. Air is the element of freedom. You must allow your creativity freedom to be itself; to be the ever changing, complex little body that it is.
Putting Your Walls Up: Sheltering the Creative Body
Sheltered is a word that often includes negative connotations. Sheltering something, is considered to mean blinding and over-protecting it. In the case of both humans and creativity, it is obvious that this approach can be pretty ineffective. It often seems that the more sheltered something is, the bigger the backlash when the walls finally come down and reality sets in.
In the case of your creative body, sheltering is necessary... in small doses. Just as you'd feel insane after sitting in your house for days on end, your creative body can't be sheltered all of the time. But there are moments when shelter is crucial for your creative body. As with all of it's needs, it is up to you to determine when your creativity needs shelter, and when it needs to just go outside already.
There are times as creative people that we feel especially vulnerable about our projects. These are the moments when one little comment can send you on a crazy whirlwind of self doubt and creative collapse. It can be a comment as simple as "It's awesome, but you forgot to do..." fill in the blank as needed. For some, this feeling is more frequent than for others. For some, this is a constant state of being, and for others, they have only experienced moments like this once or twice throughout their lifetimes.
The amount of shelter necessary for your creative body, just like nourishment, rest and air, is different for everyone. Shelter of the creative body ties in with your personal insecurities and self-worth. If you struggle with depression, you'll find you need far more shelter than someone who is the eternal optimist. No matter how much shelter you need as a creative person, know that it is not only okay for you to need it, but healthy for you to need it.
Creativity is a delicate thing. When we start a project, it is small, fresh, vulnerable. Much like a newborn baby, you must handle it with the utmost care and gentleness. As it grows, you can be more assertive with it. By the time it is nearly done, you are working on it full strength, revising, erasing, hemming, glazing, whatever that final step is for you. When you are in the final stages of a project, you start to take on a more hardened approach with it, and are thus less likely to be disturbed when someone says "Oh, you missed a spot." Your reaction at that stage is usually something along the lines of "Oh I know, I still need to get to that," or "Thanks for pointing that out, I didn't even notice."
The earliest stages of your project is when you have most room for doubt. You are most vulnerable in your creativity at that point. In that space, you must protect your creativity from judgmental minds and eyes, including your own. If you feel judgements or doubts creeping in, stop what you're doing and go to your source of inspiration. If there is someone in your life that is known to offer constructive criticism, do not invite them into your project until you are actually ready for the criticism. In my experience, if you allow too much judgement in the earliest stages of a project, it will ultimately falter and fall by the wayside.
If you feel yourself needing creative shelter, allow it to yourself. You are not obligated to show your early stages of work to anyone, nor should you. Keeping an idea all to yourself for a while makes it that much more fun to work on. It creates a small, magical secret between you and your creative body alone, that the longer you keep it, the more excited you become to finish and finally unveil it. For me, if I try to show someone the beginnings of a dress, all they see is a bunch of fabric scraps laying in a pile, and will naturally not be all to excited to see it. Once I see their lack of excitement, then I feel the same. So, I've learned not to show off any project until it's at least basically done.
I Just Want to Be Loved! Loving and Appreciating the Creative Body
All beings need love and appreciation as much as they need the air they breathe. This is no different for the creative body. Love is often searched for in externals; friends, families, spouses, pets and so on. We do this with our creativity too. Often we showcase our projects to those we love seeking appreciation and positive reinforcement. While this is totally fine and natural, we often forget to appreciate and love our projects ourselves.
There is no greater judgement than the judgement we place upon ourselves. Often, we convince ourselves into thinking that our creative endeavors are no good, and then seek approval from someone else. This cycle is vicious and destructive. Often, if the external approval stops, the creative body shuts down, and depression can set in.
Loving your creative body is ultimately the most important of all it's needs. If we cease to love our creativity, then the creativity ceases to function. There is suddenly no use in seeking inspiration if the projects that it brings are unappreciated. Ceasing to love your creativity is the equivalent of giving up. It's like when someone just stops caring for themselves and lets themselves go completely. When you dislike, or even hate your creative body, you are allowing it to shut down.
It can be difficult to create love and appreciation from within. As with everything, it is easier for some more than others. In these moments of self-doubt, and creative loathing, go back to an old project you were really proud of. Look at it without criticism, and try to just remember that moment that you finished it. That moment of pride and self-love, of happiness and a feeling of slight invincibility. Let yourself really feel it. Examine the project and notice every thing about it that you really like. Maybe it's a simple phrase, a curvy line, an even stitch. Whatever it is, let yourself be in awe of your own creation. Don't criticize your thoughts in this moment. If you look at a piece you are proud of and think 'Wow, I am awesome!' don't push that thought away. Don't let yourself think you're being arrogant or cocky when appreciating your work. You should feel proud with every creation. With every minute spent working on your project, you should be thinking 'This project is incredible! I am amazing!'
Never compare your own work with another's. It is like comparing your soul with an ad from a magazine. If you try to compare your novel with Great Expectations, you're most likely not going to feel great in the end. If I were to try to compare my clothes with some uber-successful design company, I'd honestly end up feeling a little like total crap. Your creations are your own, and they should stand alone. Your creations are not so-and-so's creations, and you shouldn't judge them as if they were. When you finish your project, don't go and look at the "professional" version of it. Look at your own creation and think 'Hell yeah, I made that. I'm capable of creating amazing things, and I am awesome.' Even if you don't believe it at first, just say it out loud every time you start and finish a project. Think about all of the hard work, love, and effort you put into your project. Appreciate your own drive and passion that has led you all this way. After a while, you will realize what you've been denying all along....
You are a kickass, creative entity with serious talent and potential. The only thing holding you back is yourself, but luckily, you are your biggest fan. You can creatively take on the world, because you take care of your creativity.
I hope that this long post can help you be a thriving creative entity, or at the very least, inspired you to go create something. I'm not sure if I'm just reiterating points that someone much wiser and older than myself have already famously taught, but I wanted to share what goes through my mind on your average Saturday morning.
What tricks do you have for keeping your creativity in motion? What's your biggest struggle?
-Emmuh Z Scribe
Etsy
Pinterest
deviantART
Email Me
The Creative Body:
If you think of creativity as a separate body within yourself, you can begin to break it down and see the needs it has in order to be cultivated. Much like a small, semi-helpless house pet, it's your duty to take care of it, or else it will die. Every person's creativity; like every living creature, has the same basic needs. Of course, every person is different, and therefor every creative body needs different things in different doses alongside these basic needs, but ultimately, they can all be cared for in basically the same way.
The Needs of the Creative Body:
The basic needs of the human and creative body are the pretty much the same. Nourishment, Rest, Air, Shelter, and Love/Appreciation. Thankfully, fulfilling the needs of your creative body is much easier, and cheaper than caring for a small pet or another human being. Almost everything you need to keep your creative body healthy and thriving comes from within anyway.
Inspiration for Dinner: Nourishing the Creative Body
Without food, bodies die. Just as I'd certainly fall over if I were to stop feeding myself, your creativity will do the same. Luckily, when it comes to creativity, you can pretty much always revive it, though it is more difficult and time consuming than if you had fed it in the first place. The most obvious, filling food for creativity is inspiration. You can feed your creativity snacks like stress about deadlines, self-doubts and stubbornness, but these do to your creative body what I'm imagining a supersized double quarter pounder meal does to your actual body. Sure, it's an easy solution when you're hungry and tired and feel like you're out of other options, but it never really does make you feel much better.
Inspiration is almost mythical. It's something we've heard exists, and believe in ourselves, but never seem to be able to hold on to for more than a moment. Just when we finally catch it, it fleets before we can make use of it. And yet, we absolutely need it in order to be fully creative entities. To catch inspiration, you must first create it. Just as primitive people had to create tools to catch their food, we have to create metaphorical tools to capture inspiration.
What inspires you? For every person it's different, and usually ever changing. One moment you might draw inspiration from steampunk, while the next you find yourself obsessed with geisha culture. Inspiration and creativity are in a constant ebb and flow, a push and pull. Like everything in life, it is constantly moving, changing, getting better, then worse, then better again. And yet, if you surround yourself with things that have created inspiration for you at some point, you will find inspiration abounds.
Sometimes we get so caught up in a current inspiration, that we forget the things that inspired us before. When you find your creative body getting hungry, go back and watch Lord of the Rings again. Re-read your favorite book when you were 9. Listen to 80's music and dance like a complete idiot. The smallest things can spark a crazy buffet of inspiration, but often, we have to find it ourselves.
If you find you're still uninspired, try doing something totally new and radical for you. Now, I am not by any means telling you to go bungee jumping, (in fact, please don't!) but I am saying to push your comfort zone a little. You can push your comfort zone, while still being comfortable, and not risking your life. It can be done with the simplest parts of your daily routine.
If you like Apatow-esque comedies, watch The Hours, or any other famously depressing movie. If you like chick-flicks, watch a hardcore gangster movie. If you love video games, play Monopoly with your entire family. If you like to spend a lot of time away from home, force yourself to stay in your room all day doing stuff you love, without any human interaction. If you love meat, be vegan for a day. If you always eat healthy, go buy yourself the most fudgey brownie you can find. Do these things without judgement, open-heartedly. Really try to enjoy them, even if it's hard. Sometimes those torturous moments; like when you're forced to listen to Katy Perry at full blast, can actually bring great inspiration, even if it's perhaps spurred by a negative reaction. You need a small dose of "This is why I'll never do that," once in a while to maintain your grounding.
Just Go to Sleep Already! Resting the Creative Body
There are times that, try as you might, you just can't get inspired. You may do every single thing on the list above, and some more, and still you just aren't feeling the inspiration. Instead of overstuffing yourself, and pushing onward, you need to take a step back, and let your creative body rest.
Like every person, each creative body functions differently on different amounts of rest. Some people are hyper-creative for weeks on end, then suddenly find themselves in a month long crash. Others are only creative here and there, while some are only creative once in a blue moon. Between these three major types of creative bodies, there are countless, maybe even hundreds more.
The hardest step of caring for the creative body, is resting it. It can often be difficult to decipher whether your creativity needs nourishment, or rest. It's easier for most to assume that they're simply uninspired, and continue on trying to find that bit of inspiration to keep them going. This overfeeding of the creative body, is a destructive, but all too common cycle. In thinking you are uninspired, you scour for inspiration, taking it from places that would normally be wells, but have been reduced to mere crumbs over time. The more you try and try for inspiration, the more you destroy the tools you made earlier in the process. It is in this moment, where nothing seems to inspire you, that you must step back and realistically look at the situation.
If you cannot nourish your creativity with the things that normally always bring forth some spark or idea, you need to rest it. Resting the creative body is physically, and emotionally very easy. The most struggle can come from within the mind, if you allow it. It's easy to get caught up in a negative train of thought when resting your creativity. It's common to berate yourself for not being creative, for not being inspired. For me, this is the most difficult part of caring for the creative body. I often find myself feeling obligated to create something, even though I can't stand the thought of sewing, writing, drawing or really doing anything. I get so used to feeling creative 95% of the time, that when it is time to rest my creativity, I feel like I'm missing a part of myself.
Resting the creative body is simple. All you do is nothing. Just be totally and completely uncreative for as long as it takes for that huge idea to come, (because it will, trust me.) For some, this amount of resting time is a few days, while for others it can be a few months, or even years. This is the perfect time to do those things you've been wanting or meaning to. Reorganize your work space, play 2,000 games of Solitaire, watch every episode of your favorite TV show back to back. Spend time out in the world, with either friends or family. Let yourself forget completely about all of your personal creative projects. Avoid things that remind you of the project you're taking a rest from. Don't read if you're a writer, it makes you feel guilty for not writing. Don't look at DIY blogs if you're a crafter, again, it will make you feel guilty for not crafting.
Guilt is usually the thing that sets the wheels in motion when it comes to a damaging train of thought. It's common to think, "Oh, I'm being so unproductive right now," when you're resting your creative body. That single thought can lead to moodiness, depression, temper tantrums, and feelings of self-loathing or uselessness. Resting your creative body is the opposite of being unproductive. Just as you wouldn't say after a great night's sleep, "Sleeping 8 hours was seriously unproductive," you should never say the same about your creativity. In order to function properly, it needs to rest. The more you force it and strain it, the less powerful your creative body becomes. After a while, it starts to get so loopy that you find yourself creating... well, crap.
You'll find that if you rest your creative body for the time that it needs, without berating yourself, you will have actually saved time by doing nothing, than had you forced yourself to keep on creating when you couldn't. It's like doing the dishes at 4 in the morning with a flu. They will get done, but you'll find that when you wake up, you're most likely going to need to rewash half of them because you missed spots when you were so drained you could barely see.
Quit Smothering Me! Oxygenating the Creative Body
Air and rest are very similar when it comes to the creative body. A big part of caring for your creative body, is knowing when to leave it be. If you think of it as a small child or housepet, you'll realize that there is no way you can expect to play with and cuddle it 24/7 without doing some kind of serious damage.
With any living thing, you must let your creativity breathe. Often we find that we try to put ourselves into one or two categories as creative people, and then stick to those solely. We often completely miss out on hidden talents and inspirations by doing this. For example, I have been writing stories for as long as I can remember. Even before I could actually write, I scribbled "stories" only I could "read" into notebooks and journals. Once I took on the label of 'writer,' I started to discredit every other creative interest I had. I gave up completely on my once dream of being a musician, I stopped caring about acting, and didn't allow myself to further explore sewing. I saw all of these other creative endeavors as distractions from my "only purpose;" writing. Had I not boxed myself off as a creative person, I could have learned guitar, starred in a few local plays, and even be further along with my clothing.
By boxing my creativity into one category, I stifled it, and nearly almost killed it completely. It was only when I started allowing myself to explore other channels that I started creating full-force again. I had to be open to anything in order to keep my creativity alive.
Bring air to your creative body by trying that project you have an idea for, but is maybe "not your style." Don't force yourself into a creative category. If you're a writer and you want to make a candle, make the damn candle! If you're a seamstress and you want to draw a super-villain, go draw, NOW! Do what you really want to do creatively, not what you think you should do. Follow your inspiration wherever it leads you. Even if your creative urge is to build a Sims mansion or create elaborate HTML coding, just do it. Air is the element of freedom. You must allow your creativity freedom to be itself; to be the ever changing, complex little body that it is.
Putting Your Walls Up: Sheltering the Creative Body
Sheltered is a word that often includes negative connotations. Sheltering something, is considered to mean blinding and over-protecting it. In the case of both humans and creativity, it is obvious that this approach can be pretty ineffective. It often seems that the more sheltered something is, the bigger the backlash when the walls finally come down and reality sets in.
In the case of your creative body, sheltering is necessary... in small doses. Just as you'd feel insane after sitting in your house for days on end, your creative body can't be sheltered all of the time. But there are moments when shelter is crucial for your creative body. As with all of it's needs, it is up to you to determine when your creativity needs shelter, and when it needs to just go outside already.
There are times as creative people that we feel especially vulnerable about our projects. These are the moments when one little comment can send you on a crazy whirlwind of self doubt and creative collapse. It can be a comment as simple as "It's awesome, but you forgot to do..." fill in the blank as needed. For some, this feeling is more frequent than for others. For some, this is a constant state of being, and for others, they have only experienced moments like this once or twice throughout their lifetimes.
The amount of shelter necessary for your creative body, just like nourishment, rest and air, is different for everyone. Shelter of the creative body ties in with your personal insecurities and self-worth. If you struggle with depression, you'll find you need far more shelter than someone who is the eternal optimist. No matter how much shelter you need as a creative person, know that it is not only okay for you to need it, but healthy for you to need it.
Creativity is a delicate thing. When we start a project, it is small, fresh, vulnerable. Much like a newborn baby, you must handle it with the utmost care and gentleness. As it grows, you can be more assertive with it. By the time it is nearly done, you are working on it full strength, revising, erasing, hemming, glazing, whatever that final step is for you. When you are in the final stages of a project, you start to take on a more hardened approach with it, and are thus less likely to be disturbed when someone says "Oh, you missed a spot." Your reaction at that stage is usually something along the lines of "Oh I know, I still need to get to that," or "Thanks for pointing that out, I didn't even notice."
The earliest stages of your project is when you have most room for doubt. You are most vulnerable in your creativity at that point. In that space, you must protect your creativity from judgmental minds and eyes, including your own. If you feel judgements or doubts creeping in, stop what you're doing and go to your source of inspiration. If there is someone in your life that is known to offer constructive criticism, do not invite them into your project until you are actually ready for the criticism. In my experience, if you allow too much judgement in the earliest stages of a project, it will ultimately falter and fall by the wayside.
If you feel yourself needing creative shelter, allow it to yourself. You are not obligated to show your early stages of work to anyone, nor should you. Keeping an idea all to yourself for a while makes it that much more fun to work on. It creates a small, magical secret between you and your creative body alone, that the longer you keep it, the more excited you become to finish and finally unveil it. For me, if I try to show someone the beginnings of a dress, all they see is a bunch of fabric scraps laying in a pile, and will naturally not be all to excited to see it. Once I see their lack of excitement, then I feel the same. So, I've learned not to show off any project until it's at least basically done.
I Just Want to Be Loved! Loving and Appreciating the Creative Body
All beings need love and appreciation as much as they need the air they breathe. This is no different for the creative body. Love is often searched for in externals; friends, families, spouses, pets and so on. We do this with our creativity too. Often we showcase our projects to those we love seeking appreciation and positive reinforcement. While this is totally fine and natural, we often forget to appreciate and love our projects ourselves.
There is no greater judgement than the judgement we place upon ourselves. Often, we convince ourselves into thinking that our creative endeavors are no good, and then seek approval from someone else. This cycle is vicious and destructive. Often, if the external approval stops, the creative body shuts down, and depression can set in.
Loving your creative body is ultimately the most important of all it's needs. If we cease to love our creativity, then the creativity ceases to function. There is suddenly no use in seeking inspiration if the projects that it brings are unappreciated. Ceasing to love your creativity is the equivalent of giving up. It's like when someone just stops caring for themselves and lets themselves go completely. When you dislike, or even hate your creative body, you are allowing it to shut down.
It can be difficult to create love and appreciation from within. As with everything, it is easier for some more than others. In these moments of self-doubt, and creative loathing, go back to an old project you were really proud of. Look at it without criticism, and try to just remember that moment that you finished it. That moment of pride and self-love, of happiness and a feeling of slight invincibility. Let yourself really feel it. Examine the project and notice every thing about it that you really like. Maybe it's a simple phrase, a curvy line, an even stitch. Whatever it is, let yourself be in awe of your own creation. Don't criticize your thoughts in this moment. If you look at a piece you are proud of and think 'Wow, I am awesome!' don't push that thought away. Don't let yourself think you're being arrogant or cocky when appreciating your work. You should feel proud with every creation. With every minute spent working on your project, you should be thinking 'This project is incredible! I am amazing!'
Never compare your own work with another's. It is like comparing your soul with an ad from a magazine. If you try to compare your novel with Great Expectations, you're most likely not going to feel great in the end. If I were to try to compare my clothes with some uber-successful design company, I'd honestly end up feeling a little like total crap. Your creations are your own, and they should stand alone. Your creations are not so-and-so's creations, and you shouldn't judge them as if they were. When you finish your project, don't go and look at the "professional" version of it. Look at your own creation and think 'Hell yeah, I made that. I'm capable of creating amazing things, and I am awesome.' Even if you don't believe it at first, just say it out loud every time you start and finish a project. Think about all of the hard work, love, and effort you put into your project. Appreciate your own drive and passion that has led you all this way. After a while, you will realize what you've been denying all along....
You are a kickass, creative entity with serious talent and potential. The only thing holding you back is yourself, but luckily, you are your biggest fan. You can creatively take on the world, because you take care of your creativity.
I hope that this long post can help you be a thriving creative entity, or at the very least, inspired you to go create something. I'm not sure if I'm just reiterating points that someone much wiser and older than myself have already famously taught, but I wanted to share what goes through my mind on your average Saturday morning.
What tricks do you have for keeping your creativity in motion? What's your biggest struggle?
-Emmuh Z Scribe
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