Welcome everyone, I’m Sol and today we will continue to work on keeping up your creative energy! If you need a refresher on the last article click here, and if you’re struggling with burnout click here. Today we will be focused on building an environment where creativity can flourish. Grab something to take notes with and read on!
“Creativity is like a flower, in the wrong environment it will never bloom. What does your creative garden look like?”
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In the last article, we talked about what creativity is and the mystery behind it. I ended that article with the advice to allow yourself to fail. Despite all our best efforts life often finds a way to trip us up, slow us down, and set us back. External factors can drag you down, it’s a fact! So, before we take aim at developing your inner strengths, let’s look at how we can make the external world support creativity rather than stifle it.
Thinking about creativity as a tree that you need to plant, care for, prune, and then eventually harvest the fruit from will help you understand the process. I am going to walk you through finding the best soil, selecting good seeds, and taking care of pests along the way. You can visualize this any way you like, but I think this is a fun way to visualize the process and remember the steps!
Start With Basics
Before you can grow your creativity, you need to consider the soil it’s going to be planted in. Where is this work going to happen? If you are trying to be inspired and creative but you are surrounded by clutter that annoys you, sounds that distract you, and people that drain you, how could you ever expect to be productive?! Even if you do manage to grind work out, your mind will learn to associate your workspace with anxiety, frustration, and other negative emotions. Once that happens you will be fighting not just the environment but your own mind!
Look at your workspace and consider what gets in the way. Take away the things that impede you and add things that inspire you! If you work in a physical medium like painting or sculpting, then lay your tools out where you can easily grab them. It’s easy to get stuck on the past if it’s always lingering, so clear the clutter and old projects out. If you work digitally tidy up that desk, dust off the art, and clear out your file folders! Now you have the space clear and ready, and creativity has room to grow.
Now take some of that space you made and add things back. Putting sources of inspiration in your workspace can boost your creativity. Choose a wide variety of moods and inspirations that fit your style and the methods you are working with. Consider all of your senses! It is easy to get stuck on visual inspiration and overlook music and sound, or even to forget taste or touch! Our sense of smell is most tied to emotion and memory, use that to inspire you!
- Reduce Clutter and old projects.
- Have your tools and space ready and available.
- Surround yourself with inspiration.
Supportive Relationships
Growing creativity is more than a solo job, art comes is part of the community it grows in. Surround yourself with positive influences. Developing a good relationship with other creatives will always boost your own inspiration. Having a mentor to help you along the way, and an idol to look up to is also something you should invest time in. Consider being a mentor to someone else! Your skills and creativity will become ever so much better when you teach someone else! Seek out friendships with people who love to see what you do, and who can help build you up! Art might happen alone, but the relationships you surround yourself with are people who can help you stay creative, or they can drain that creativity…
Just like I suggested clearing out your workspace and tossing out the old clutter, it can be beneficial to evaluate your relationships in the same way. Distance yourself from people who disparage your dreams, they are just blocking the sun from getting to your creativity. Also, get away from people who demand more than you can provide. People who ask for the fruits of your labor without enriching your garden are like bugs on crops or weeds in the flower bed. Pull them up from the roots and spray those pests away.
Even if you work best alone, having people to talk to outside of your creative space is a great benefit. The more diverse people you can connect with the more sources of inspiration you will have. If you’re a bit introverted (like me!) this can seem daunting, but it doesn’t have to be an immediate event! Gently explore talking with new people, getting to know them, and seeing where their different views lead them. If you struggle with conversation, just ask people what they are passionate about and why! Listen to them, I mean really listen, and you will learn so much, become inspired, and make some friends along the way.
- Develop relationships with other creatives.
- Remove negative people.
- Meet new people with different experiences.
You have probably read advice like this before though. So let me take it a bit further than others and bridge some gaps. Fall in love with the process. You can do all the above advice and make great strides, but to really thrive, learn to love doing this! Gardening and farming aren’t something you do once and then you’re set for life, and nor is creativity. It is a continual process that you devote yourself to. Learn to love clearing out the clutter and come back to it seasonally. Embrace going into the world and gathering new friends to help you grow and thrive. Gain satisfaction from pruning back bad ideas and chasing off pests. If you can fall in love with this part, the rest will always come easier than you had ever imagined.
If you enjoyed this article and found it helpful, please support me by joining my ko-fi. Supporters get credit in my games, previews on upcoming work, and monthly retrospectives. You can also support me directly by buying the games I have developed on itch as well.
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