Pip's School For Slumpy Creatives Pip-Life

Pip’s School For Slumpy Creatives: Lesson Two

August 15, 2016
pretty flowers by pip

Here’s Lesson TWO in a free series designed to shake off the slump and kindly lead you down the path to nicer times!
Previously: Pip’s School For Slumpy Creatives : Lesson One

border pink

Lesson Two: Declare Your Creativity (In A Really Tiny Voice, If Need Be!)

I’m not a HUGE one for wu-wu (sparkly, mildly magical, mind unicorn type things) but sometimes a bit of wu-wu goes a long way. This little bit of wu-wu is one of the only wu-bits in this course. It goes like this…

Declare your own creativity.

Something really does happen when you make a declaration and set yourself on a particular path.

There’s a mindset change, especially if you revisit your declaration regularly and remind yourself of what you want.

Perhaps it’s just the true tenacious you, pushing forward to try and make good on the commitment you’ve voiced. Or perhaps it’s something to do with sparkles and unicorns. I’m really not sure which. Not everything can be explained.

Regardless of the mysterious way the universe works, wu or true, making a declaration of creativity really does make a difference for a whole bunch of reasons. For instance:

1. It’s sometimes the first time you are able to say this stuff out loud, which feels strange and exciting and spurs you on in your creative journey. (Or makes you feel a bit sick!)

2. It gives you a chance to try a bit of creative intention on for size. To see what it feels like… To get used to it like a new pair of really awesome shoes that feel a bit whack, but ultimately fit like a glove.

3. It gives you a bit of accountability.

4. A declaration can help us set our intention – pressing the ‘play’ button in our brain. (Sometimes we have to do this over and over because we might be continually needing to press the ‘pause’ button too!)

5. Hearing the things we most want to do out loud, from our own mouths is a really ace way of facing up to your own hopes and dreams (instead of snarking on yourself!)

6. It gives you an instant team. The world is full of creative enthusiasts, some hiding their talents under a bushel and others who are very vocal and visible. Out or not, these people were at one time just like us. They were full of ideas and the urge to be expressive or artistic or just insightful and sensitive. They wanted to reveal themselves through art or writing or craft or music or other mediums. These kinds of people seek out and support others who seem a little bit like them. They want to foster creative connections and encourage others to be expressive in their own way too. So that’s your gang. And so are WE! Let’s hold hands and sing Kumbaya!

If you want to ignore the wu-wu factor of setting intentions and making declarations – it actually makes sense in non-wu-wu terms too. You make an commitment to creativity. You spend time each day thinking about creative pursuits (changing your mindset.) You do creative things (instead of watching telly or whatever!) You find out more about other creative people and activities (immersing yourself in creative ideas instead of playing Candy Crush.) You do this a lot (instead of eating Cheds on the back porch.) It becomes a way of life.

Your declaration made you more accountable and devoted to your intention.

 

I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately…
Henry David Thoreau

 

It’s not just me on a soapbox preaching about creative intentions and commitment. There are others encouraging us to think about what we really want and hoping that we will give ourselves a break and grab hold of it.

 

We find what we are looking for. If we are looking for life and love and openness and growth, we are likely to find them.

Madeleine L’Engle (author of A Wrinkle In Time)

 

flowers feature

 

And yet, despite all this encouragement from the creative community, some people are very busy making long lists detailing why they can’t achieve the things they want. Some people spend a lot of their time and energy repeatedly declaring all the things they are not and can not be. Out loud or quietly in their own shouty brain. So sucky. Ugh.

This is probably not entirely their own fault. This can be deeply ingrained, what they were taught to think and feel about themselves, from a very early age. Even now, they might hear voices from their childhood reminding them that they are NOT so fancy, that they are NOT THAT clever and that they are a bit too plump or un-funny or non-shiny or ginger or weird or loud or the like. That they are kidding themselves. Ugh. It’s horrible for them.

 

hugs those people

 

‘The World’ also teaches us that we need to earn our stripes (which is true) before we go bandying about declarations of who and what we might be, having hopes and dreams and the like. ‘Who do you think you are, Miss?!’ Sheesh. To a point, I get that, especially if you are declaring you are a brain surgeon (when you are a gardener) or a pole dancer (when you are a lawyer). Good call. Thanks World. But…

Declaring your CREATIVITY is not the same as pretending to be an astronaut when you are a midwife. It’s more like declaring you are breathing! It’s a given. It’s true! You are creative. It’s okay. Say it. Don’t be shy!

You are creative. You are not an imposter. This open, interested, hands-on, make-y life is for you. Learn to talk about this good thing that you are and watch the creative opportunities and possibilities open up to you. Even if you talk about it very, very quietly for now! That’s totally okay too!

Maybe you want to just write it down, even? Do that. Write this. Get yourself a journal and write it on the very first page.

 

‘Creative = me!’

 

Phew. Good one. It’s 1 million percent true. I know it seems cheesy, I really do,  but so do CHEDS and they are awesome. When you are feeling a bit wayward, like an imposter in the creative realm turn to page one. Read it. It’s true. Bam.

When you hear that voice saying ‘who do you think you are, fancy pants?!’ or ‘pull your head in, tosser!’, you can just point it to page one and tell it to shut up and make something.

Make a big, warm-hearted, committed choice to be creative. Do something about it.

 

Good people are not those who lack flaws, the brave are not those who feel no fear, and the generous are not those who never feel selfish. Extraordinary people are not extraordinary because they are invulnerable to unconscious biases. They are extraordinary because they choose to do something about it.

Shankar Vedantam

 

Get to work and harness all that creative cleverness and ingenuity. Who knows what’s bubbling away in there?!

 

Excellence is never an accident. It is always the result of high intention, sincere effort, and intelligent execution; it represents the wise choice of many alternatives – choice, not chance, determines your destiny.

Aristotle

 

Hope you’re having fun de-slumping with me!

 

pip signature

Optional homework:
Get that journal.
Write that thing.
Say those words.

 

border pink

 

 

Other good stuff on my blog:
Pip’s School For Slumpy Creatives : Lesson One
My I Spy: Something Beginning With ‘A’
How To Make Choc Chip Brioche Buns
24 Non-Crap Things To Say To The Sad Person In Your Life
Make My Very Best Chicken Soup

8 Comments

  • Reply Rachel September 19, 2016 at 8:39 AM

    THANK YOU PIP for the words I need to hear!! xx

  • Reply Rebecca August 16, 2016 at 7:53 PM

    I love your lessons Pip and this one is a fantastic reminder. Yay for creativity! Yay for declaring intentions of creativity. And I love your images too, esp in those cool circles! <3

  • Reply Michelle August 16, 2016 at 12:35 PM

    I am creative. I have always been creative. I am giving myself permission to be creative on a daily basis. I won’t make any more excuses to not be creative.
    Thank you Pip. I really needed this today. x

    • Reply Meet Me At Mikes August 16, 2016 at 12:49 PM

      Isn’t it weird that many of us have been taught that creativity is self-indulgent? And thus might be reluctant to claim creative time for ourselves? It’s such a shame, because it’s the stuff that keeps us going, I reckon. xx

  • Reply Kate August 16, 2016 at 10:42 AM

    I thought this might be a safe place for me to share…
    very quietly……
    i am creative.

    • Reply Meet Me At Mikes August 16, 2016 at 10:43 AM

      I KNOW!! YOU ARE!!! Sorry. Will stop yelling now.

  • Reply Clare August 16, 2016 at 12:18 AM

    Skips off to grab my daily writing book…..

  • Reply Robyna August 15, 2016 at 8:47 PM

    I’m loving these Pip. It’s so true that excellence isn’t an accident — yet we often look at other people’s success and pretend it is. I often need to remind myself of that. And that it’s a choice I can make too.

  • Leave a Reply