The slow movement has been around for many years now, but has it kept up with the fast pace of modern day living? Finding Your Creative Calm In A Chaotic World – here’s my thoughts on how to slow it down to embrace creativity for the long-term…
Today’s world is so fast. Fast cars, fast food, hustling, getting to a million followers in 7 days, reading a book in a day, and making passive income now! It’s all about getting there quickly.
Have you not already achieved your dreams by yesterday?!
If you put pressure on your creativity in order to keep up with the pace – then if you don’t burn out now…you will in the end.
Youtube videos are all about content creation. We follow people’s tips, lives, experiences to get answers. The trouble is everything is measured in how many followers a creator has, how much quantity is put out there as well as the quality.
The pressure for content creators is to keep up with the demand from consumers – they expect quality AND quantity. How is it possible to keep up with this…especially when the attention span of consumers is minutes…seconds even!
Marketing is everywhere
Everything is trying to grab our attention. Really sit with this for a minute. Everything and everywhere out there is trying to get our attention. If it’s not the news giving one depressing/shocking story after another to keep us watching, it’s constant advertising we’re bombarded with – ‘buy this and you’ll be desired/beautiful/___________ – insert your own appropriate insecurity here.
When everything is flashing around us, waving to us to look, catching our eye with huge captial fonts to read their words…it all gets a little too exhausting to add your own creativity to the chaos that already surrounds each one of us.
How to slow down when there’s so much to distract you?
To not become distracted during a regular day seems incredibly difficult to do in this digital age. It takes effort, focus and dedication to remove these obstructions – it’s shocking that we can’t go about our lives without interruptions from things outside our control.
Finding Your Creative Calm In A Chaotic World
Here are my thoughts and practises, I hope they help shine a light on what is important to you. Let’s look at how to free up your mind and encourage your creative calm come out of the shadows:
Stop comparison & show compassion
What do you consume? Next time you scroll Instagram, or watch a Youtube video, analyse your own movements. Do you unfollow people if they havent brought out a new video in a few weeks? What do you expect of others? Try to show compassion to others, we all shouldn’t be expected to produce on demand. Once we ease up on others, we can accept our own limitations.
Implement good habits to help you enjoy life
What makes you relax and enjoy that creative flow? Laying off the coffee in the afternoons and waking earlier in the morning? What makes you feel energised? I find at the moment I am waking earlier in the morning to get some writing done, which makes me feel productive before everyone else wakes in my household. With this, I go to bed earlier too. I feel rested. I have also started drinking green smoothies mid-morning. These are super simple to make – avacado, spinach, banana, yogurt – I find this is giving me more energy than having another cup of coffee. Listen to your body and what you think it’s lacking.
Hit pause on creativity
Don’t freak out here! Just wait…
You may need to hit pause altogether on your creavity, especially when your creative well feels dry. And that’s OK. It could be time to go within yourself. Shut out the TV, news, and social media. Try different a routine, mix up your day in some way – this may encourage different thoughts and ideas.
Try to relax those expectations – don’t put this down to ‘If I do this inner work, It’ll give me more creative inspiration’. It might…it might not.
Spend quiet time doing things that nourish your mind, heart and soul. Hit pause on productivity and enjoy the slowness of life.
It’s up to you
Finding Your Creative Calm In A Chaotic World
Slow down – putting more pressure on yourself to perform/create will stop you from finishing anything.
Be kind to yourself. Creativity cannot be forced – believe me, I’ve tried! Switch off the distractions and delve into what makes you light up, don’t be afraid to make time for you…and hopefully your creativity can eventually be coaxed from the cracks.
Find your own groove in your own calm. And for now, ignore the outcome and just focus on the process.
WHAT ABOUT YOU?
Do you find it increasingly difficult to concentrate on your own creativity? Comment below and let me know how you manage your workload and keep inspired at the same time.
If you enjoyed this, have a look at my previous posts such as – Don’t wait for your passion to grow – pick something now!
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