Keep Creating: The Challenge of Doubt and a Strategy for Overcoming It
A Time to Keep Creating
Life has changed quickly, and some of us are still in that transition. Others have gone inside, closed the door, and won't be leaving again for a while.
It's a lot to process, and we will need the act of creating more than ever. You might be carrying a creative project around inside you (maybe for years) that you Just Haven't Gotten To Yet, or that Daily Life Keeps You From. Well . . . guess what?
I read a post recently that said if its author didn't have kids or a bookstore to run she'd use this time to write write write. It's a good point, and I think those of us with kids and/or businesses could still make this a creative time if we choose.
But . . . doubt.
One of our biggest challenges is doubt. Making something from nothing, something the world is likely doing just fine without, is an act of faith. On any regular day, we might ask, Why bother? But against the backdrop of a global pandemic, everything can feel frivolous. Plus, in our moments of reckoning, we may struggle to imagine the future, both in grand scale ways and in regards to our project.
A Solid Workaround
A useful strategy when we're caught in the Why Bother mind trap is to reframe our reason why we're showing up to our practice. If we can't imagine the future, then the future result may not be motivating. Honestly even a completed product might not be either. These days I'm primarily showing up to my practice because of how I feel afterward. Grounded, quiet from the din, and empowered. I finish standing squarely on the terrain of This Is What I Can Do. This. (Also dishwashing and Uno playing but you get the idea?)
It can be easy to focus on what's lost in this season, and all those feelings are valid. But it's also a chance to be curious--as makers, what could we make of it? Who could we be and how would that feel? Whether your endeavors are related to current events or not, the very act of making opens the pressure valve and lets some of that interior steam out. That alone is something we all need.
Keep taking care, dear ones. Try and make something today.