The Creative Guilt Cycle
I think most of us can relate to feeling creatively blocked. You WANT to create something, maybe even feel CALLED to create, but somehow it doesn’t come out the way you want. You feel stuck, you blame yourself. This cycle is so frustrating that we can begin to believe that there’s something wrong with us. I want to assure you, there is NOT. There is a way to create in a more playful, easeful way and it starts with compassion.
I’ll bet if you dig down into what is actually blocking you - most of the time it is some kind of EXPECTATION about the project or yourself. Expectations can be positive or negative. But since our minds have a very strong negativity bias, most of the time, we are in a mind-loop with negative expectations.
NEGATIVE EXPECTATIONS can sound like:
- It should look like this
- It shouldn’t be taking this long
- I don’t know what I’m doing
- It’s not good enough
- I don’t have enough time, $, education, etc.
These thoughts can send you down a rabbit hole of negativity that can lead you further and further from creating what you want. You might then have thoughts like, “why am I even doing this?” I’m not creative” “what’s wrong with me?”
At this point in the cycle, you may either try to force the project to completion without the best solution or give up (procrastination).
So many creatives struggle with this cycle. I call it the creative guilt cycle.
So how can you get out of this cycle? The number one way is SELF COMPASSION.
Compassion allows us to give ourselves time to do things in our own time, in our own way. It brings our focus from EXPECTATION to EXPLORATION. When we are able to allow ourselves to play and make mistakes we discover our uniqueness. This is ESPECIALLY important at the beginning of the creative process.
EXPLORATION & COMPASSION sounds like:
- I’m curious about this
- How can I show up fully today?
- I wonder what would happen if…?
- This seems to be working
- I’m still in the learning process and it can be fun
- Today I only have the energy to do this, and that’s ok
How can you bring exploration and compassion into your practice today?
Can you relate to this? I’d love to know! Leave a message below.
#artistsoninstagram #thecreativeprocess #creativeprocess #creativity #creative #artistsofinstagram #guilt #creativeblock