Creativity as a Relationship
Today, we’re talking about the concept of viewing our creativity as a relationship and why this is a helpful approach for creatives who are ready to let go of struggling with burnout, overwhelm, and the pressure of constantly having to put out creative work to please algorithms and the people around them. Let’s get into it!
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The Impact of Capitalism
If you're like me and you grew up in a Western capitalistic society, you have likely internalized the idea that creativity is only valid if you can make money with it, otherwise it’s seen as a waste of time. This is a very transactional and extractive way to look at creativity. And I think it, we all know what this feels like, not very good.
But I think that from an early age, we are conditioned to view our entire lives through the lens of capitalism, everything from how we view ourselves and others, our consumption habits, our labor, the environment, our achievements, and the things that we desire and want to accumulate throughout our lives.
We also live in a world that is dominated by linear thinking, productivity, hard work, and achievement, external validation, external measures of success, and the constant need for external validation by means of likes and follows. I think we are all familiar with how this is feeling lately, and this leaves very little room for anyone that doesn't meet these expectations and aligns with these mainstream values.
The Struggle for Creative People
And this is where we really have to get into it as deep feeling, empathic, intuitive, neurodivergent, multi-passionate, creative people of color. We really struggle with this way of thinking about creativity because it feels very linear, neurotypical, work obsessed, cutthroat world that we are entering into. This is where we start to suffer.
We are constantly battling feelings of inadequacy, guilt, and shame because we know we don't fit in. We know that people not only do not understand us but also look down on us. They think that we are naive, unrealistic, immature, because we are invested in creative pursuits.
Then, there's the added pressure of modern society with its algorithms,likes, and follows. There's this pressure to always be on and constantly putting out amazing work to keep people's attention and it's just so hard to keep up with those sorts of expectations.
Losing Direction Along the Creative Path
All these factors that I just mentioned slowly start to push us towards higher levels of stress, anxiety, exhaustion, we start to feel unhappy, and ultimately we end up burning out. This is how we end up feeling really lost and confused and unsure as to why we even got into this creative journey in the first place.
We end up feeling consumed by external measures of success and other people's expectations. And, by this point, we are completely derailed from what we were supposed to be doing. From what was supposed to be our unique creative path.
Then, it’s no surprise when we start to feel like we lost our direction. When we don't know what we were trying to achieve in the first place. And, a lot of us who started out being really passionate, lose momentum, lose the fire, and we just give up.
Creativity as a Relationship
But what if there was a different way? What if we could go back to the beginning and we could reframe the way that we understood creativity?
What if instead of simply viewing creativity as a tool to get approval, external validation, or profit… we started to see it more as a reciprocal relationship? A relationship where there was a give and a take? Where the more that you pour into it, the more that you get back?
Just think about how differently you would approach your creativity. What would change? What would the dynamic between you and your creativity look like?
If you're thinking… “Renata, this makes so much sense, this sounds amazing. I'm on board. I want to shift the way that I relate to my creativity, but I'm not sure where to start…” I want to offer some ideas to get you started.
Remember, you don't have to do everything I say, you can pick and choose whatever feels right. You can try one or two things max (because I think that it's just unrealistic to try to do all the things). So, try to go with whatever feels easiest to start with.
Putting Into Practice
So, here are some practical ways to put into practice the idea of developing a relationship with your creativity:
Idea 1- Establish a regular practice. Like with any relationship in our lives, we have to make an investment with both our time and our energy to show up regularly.
If we think about relationships that we currently have in our lives, whether that’s with a friend or a loved one, we know what it takes to be in relationship with that person. We have to be checking in with them, asking how they're doing, so that they can ask us how we're doing. There's an exchange that allows us to build a bond with that person. And, it's going to be no different with your creativity.
This is where we’re going to start to deviate from neurotypical advice as we think about how to build our creative practice. Because I think there's a misconception out there that every creative person is doing the same exact thing, in the same exact way, but that’s just not the case.
Everybody is doing things differently. We all have different goals, we’re working with different mediums, and have different definitions of what success looks like. So, there's no way that everyone's routine can look the same. And this isn’t even considering our natural rhythms and levels of energy. A lot of us are very low energy people and all these things play a role in the kind of creative practice that we can create.
I really wanna encourage you to experiment, to figure out what works for you when it comes to a creative practice. This is gonna take time because experimenting takes time. But I think it's really worthwhile because we need to figure out what works for us, to be able to do this regularly.
Contrary to popular belief, you don't have to show up to your creativity every single day to be able to find success with it. I think that's another myth that we hear a lot about. The idea that “you have to show up every single day or else you're not committed.” This is not sustainable to maintain for the long-term.
Again, I invite you to really think about what you need and/or whether you need to tweak your routine. Because maybe you've been trying to push yourself to show up daily, and you're thinking, “You know what? I really can't do this daily. I don't have the time or the energy. But I can commit to showing my creativity once a week.”
Being honest with ourselves can help us to move forward in a way that feels gentle and aligned with who we truly are. Instead of some external metric that some random person told us to follow.
Idea 2- Fill your creative cup regularly. As we know, we can't give out from an empty cup. We have to stay inspired regularly. So we can pull from all these different inspiration sources to create unique, personal, and inspiring work.
If we're not in a regular habit of inspiring ourselves, it's going to be really hard to make interesting connections and to create unique work. It’s really important to experiment to see what we like and what inspires us. This can look like a bunch of different things.
For me this looks like, listening to music, reading books, taking classes, or journaling. When I'm able to think about my own thoughts and ideas, I find myself feeling really inspired. This is what works for me. And, these things don’t always have to be related to art or creativity either. I really like it this way because this allows me to explore things outside of the main art medium and world of creativity and art.
Another discovery I’ve made along my creative journey has been realizing how the idea of going to the museum actually works for me. For the longest time, I would hear people suggest that I go to the museum to seek inspiration, since this is one of the obvious things visual artists can do. But I’ve learned that just “going to the museum” isn't for me. It has to be more specific than this. I have to go to see a specific exhibition related to something that speaks to me, a topic, or subject matter that really matters to me, so I can enjoy it.
I would really encourage you to think about what inspires you and to make a list of those things, so you can do them consciously and to remind yourself of what actually works for you.
Idea 3- Take time to rest. This is about giving yourself permission to step away from creation mode, giving your mind and body time to integrate the things that you're learning and consuming. We have to step away to do this well because it’s nearly impossible to rest while also creating constantly.
For me resting looks like many different things at different points. For example, it can be anything from taking a nap, unplugging from devices, going for a walk, meditating, or anything else where I don't have to produce anything for anybody. For a long time, the idea of resting was really hard for me. Honestly, it has taken me many years to unlearn workaholism and constantly having to “be on”.
I think this is not uncommon for a lot of us women of color, who have been raised to be caretakers, to have to constantly think about everyone else, the house, and all the other things on our to-do list but never making enough time to take care of ourselves. Having to grow up never having somebody to encourage us to take time off.
I highly encourage you to step away from creating. You have to learn to take breaks if you want to do creativity for the long haul.
You’re human. You need to take in life, the world, and be able to enjoy yourself so you can put it back into your art.
And, yes, at times you're going to have to put things on pause, and they will take a bit longer. Things might have to change after you get back from your time away. Know that this is a normal part of the process. Allow things to be as they need to and give yourself space to make your own discoveries along the way.
This won’t happen if you’re always trying to make things perfect, the way you think they should be. That’s a quick way to lose your love and joy for the creative process. The moment you try to control it, you get stuck.
The Recap
Today, we talked about:
The impact of Western and capitalistic societies on our view of creativity
Common struggles of deep feeling, empathic, neurodivergent, multi-passionate creatives
How as creatives we lose sight of the bigger picture with our creativity
Moving towards a healthier approach with our creativity by viewing it as a relationship, and
Three ideas to kickstart your relationship to your creativity
Remember, treat your creativity as a relationship. Give it the proper time and energy, and it will reward you over the long run.
Renata is a creativity coach empowering neurodivergent and multi-passionate women of color creatives to overcome creative blocks with therapeutic art making and strategic planning so they can create with ease and achieve their creative goals. She’s currently offering a free copy of her therapeutic art making workbook when you sign up for her email list. Sign up here to get your free copy.
