Being Creative Feels Messy, But It Works

As a creative person it can be hard to focus. At least that’s what I am reminding myself today.

If you are a creative person then linear tasks don’t make sense. Nothing feels simply 1 plus 2 equals 3. Or A-B-C-D blah, blah, blah.

Instead, it feels colorful with various shades of color. Maybe you’re in a green room, but some walls are shaded and the colors shift from wall to wall.

Some days you go from working on a newsletter for 5 minutes, to finding photos for the newsletter, to checking your email, to being reminded you’re going to do that email signature you’ve been trying to do for years, and then you get too obsessed with it looking a certain way that you take a break and go back to write the newsletter, then you feel sore and start to stretch, next thing you know, you’re 15 minutes of free time are up.

Did you get anything done?

Did you begin and then end?

You got a few things started.

Somedays that’s all you do is start things over and over and over again.

Other days you keep those things moving one or all at the same time.

Other days you finish a thing or too, like today, I will get through editing these first forty posts because I have more focus and more time!

If you're a creative person you like to juggle.

You like having too many balls in the air at once.

Can you catch them all?

No

Will too many of them fall unnoticed?

Yep

This is what it looks like to be a creative person.

Too many interests.

Tons of creativity and passion.

You spiral through life instead of walking in a straight line.

Somedays it feels too hard.

Some days you’re better off taking breaks and sitting quietly to meditate or focus on what really matters, stillness and presence.

Some days you need to be present with yourself and your family.

It’s all an exploration.

It’s all a mystery, how any of it gets done.

It’s not perfect.

It’s not always clear what you’re doing, but you keep doing one little or 20 little things a day, and you get stuff done, eventually.

That’s what being a creative person is, at least today.

Love always,

Danielle Mallett