I have a confession to make…
I’ve not kept up with my daily practice – at least not in the way I thought I would. My squared French notebook has a couple of pages scribbled inside. That’s it.
The truth is…
Other things have caught my eye or demanded my attention – some administrative tasks with my phone after the freak padddleboarding incident that we do not talk about.
I’ve also spent time reading the conversations on the Discord threads. And checking in with each of you (this is a slow process because when I send messages Discord thinks I am a robot and forces me to complete Mensa challenges… on the plus side my IQ should be pretty high now). If I haven’t managed to message you yet please feel free to reach out to me, I’m here.
Overwhelm.
When I start something new I sometimes have a vision of what it will be like, I create a fantasy image of The Wild Creative challenge where I set my alarm, rise early and produce the most awe inspiring words, pictures and stream of consciousness – raw dogging journaling…
Like most people, I think the reality is somewhat different from the fantasy.
We begin.
And the conversations flow and sometimes something else demands our attention. A holiday. A trip. Work. Children… Something more pressing, more urgent. And all the while the conversations flow and we feel like we are pulled away from the fantasy image of The Wild Creative that we held. Our morning pages become shopping lists (true story here – that was my reality this morning).
All the time the conversations flow we feel ourselves slipping ‘behind’ or what we do create doesn’t seem quite right, well, not as we imagined.
We become disappointed and frustrated and then comparison creeps in.
I felt it this morning.
And so I escaped.
I went outside.
And on the moor and under the sky I found these words.
I was reminded that what we often miss is the pause and the not doing. What we often forget is that it is the ‘not doing’ that is just as important as the actual doing.
So I want to send a direct message to those who have not started yet, who feel the overwhelm and feel like everyone else is bounding along happily.
This is not a race.
The ‘not doing’ is as important as the doing.
Not only that, the ‘not doing’ is a necessary part of the process.
In fact, Clarissa says it is imperative to sit with things – rocking them gently and to let things go (including our expectations) in order for creativity to take flight.
Here is what I suggest if you’re not quite sure where or how to start….
⭐️Paint your pages! (Nothing more, a painted page is less intimidating that a blank page)
⭐️ Scribble on a post it note, anything
⭐️ Listen to the story and let the words wash over you
⭐️ Connect with your wild body, whatever that looks like; bath, outside, barefoot, woods, so much of my creativity happens when I’m not at my desk…
Sally x