Hot Second Break
How to Live a More Creative Life and Some Questions to Get You There
Yesterday morning, I got really cranky. Shaun asked me for help finding something. I was pretty sure I knew right where it was and it was a place in his truck where he’d looked. So, I went out to look, too.
“I’ll handle this,” I said. “I’m sure I can find it.”
I thought I’d find it quickly and be done, that Shaun would stay in the house for a second with the dogs while I did it.
He didn’t. Instead he said, “You look in your car.”
But I knew it wasn’t in my car and I was already at his truck.
“Look under the seat,” he said. “That’s the only place I haven’t looked.”
But I knew it wasn’t under the seat. Still, I looked under the seat as he went right back to where I knew it was and he found it.
I’d already had a morning and I did not handle this well. I didn’t handle this well at all.
Why, right? It’s a super simple exchange. There’s no big red flags running around here.
I didn’t handle it well because sometimes I like to be the one who solves things, who fixes things, who gets to chart her own course.
And I think it’s also because I wasn’t super centered that morning because I wanted to write my own story, to paint, to not worry about money, and instead I was listening to a police scanner, writing far too many news stories, and being in a place of uncool stress do to income-related things.
I just wanted to fix something, find something, do something right.
It was so bad that I texted Em and wrote, “Am I good at anything?”
She was super sweet and sent all these things that she thinks I’m good at and then I texted back, “That make money?”
And she texted back, “Oh.”
Oh.
It was a pretty funny moment. But it was also a bit of a wake-up call because our lives and our selves shouldn’t be defined by trying to make money and trying to survive. We all should be able to have moments of fixing things, of creating things, of just being.
Just being.
Just being us.
I can’t change how smart Shaun is or how he is often right or how he wants to help others all the time rather than have them help him. And I can’t fix a consumer culture in the United States where creative people struggle to make ends meet. But I can fix parts of me that make more balance so that someone else’s success at finding something in a truck doesn’t feel like my own failure.
And a big part of that is to step back and think about what it means to me to create, to be creative, to live a creative life.
Maybe instead of trying to fit creativity into my life, I should just live my life being creative.
So, the question becomes how to do that.
HOW TO MAKE LIFE MORE CREATIVE
STEP ONE: DEFINE IT
So the first step of living a creative life might be to define what a creative life is for you.
That’s different for different people. For some of us, it might be about painting, writing, cooking, problem solving, home improvement.
Think: What do I think creativity is? What does it mean?
Let those questions wiggle around and resonate. Write down your answers when they flash into your head.
STEP TWO: LOOK AT WHAT YOU HAVE WRITTEN DOWN
After a week or so, look at what you’ve written down.
Now, tweak those questions into statements. Write those down too and try not to lose them like—cough—I do all the time.
I am creative
I do art
I want to have my pieces in a gallery.
I am a NYT bestselling author.
I want to win a Printz award.
I write.
I paint.
I live.
I am a writer.
I am a cook.
I make things.
I’m a person who writes stories every morning.
And so on, right?
The point is that those big ole mantras and statements make you focus on what you want, and re-focus when you feel a bit lost.
STEP THREE: THINK ABOUT OTHER THINGS
What gives me joy?
What makes me feel alive?
Can I do those things more?
Is there something I want to try?
Is there something keeping me from trying?
When do I usually feel creative during the day?
Does anything inspire me?
Have I felt happy lately? When? Why?
Are my expectations (cough-Printz award) keeping me back?
How can I do a tiny bit more of a creative thing each day?
Let those questions whisper around, too. Do not be like me and just rush through the answers. Live the answers. Okay? You’ve got this.
Hopefully, I’ve got it, too.
WRITE SUBMIT SUPPORT (I’m going to be mentioning this for about a month, sorry!)
It’s my last time teaching Write, Submit, Support at the Writing Barn. It’s online. It’s six-months. It’s a kick-butt program. Come hang out with me and a few other writers for six months. Tons of feedback. Tons of support. It’s a great program. It is not starting this Sunday because of sickness and is being pushed back a month so you just barely have time to join.
And you can always just hang out with me here! And I coach and edit on the side, too.