For someone like me, spending a prolonged period completing and finishing is like pulling teeth.
And when I say “prolonged” I mean, more than a day or two!
Despite having a glorious 3 days in the field last week speaking, inspiring, teaching and drinking vino, it only takes a couple of days at the computer to finish me completely. I am trying to do “techy” stuff and consolidate about a years worth of work and content creation (no mean feat I have to say) I feel I am crawling along the floor…
Well intentioned coaches and colleagues are making me focus (tut) well they think I am.
Part of the creative process and the coaching process for that matter, is pulling stuff together, creating some sort of whole, often from disparate parts. I liken it to pulling threads together, some of which will have arisen quite randomly, some carefully selected.
How they are pulled together is up to you and determines your unique approach and how the “finished” thing will look, feel, function and be seen in the world. I say “finished” in inverted commas as I don’t think I am actually finishing anything, as I am working on websites and presenting content. It doesn’t feel the same as finishing a painting, where there seems a definitive end to the process – perhaps hanging or framing (the picture, obviously).
And I don’t intend on creating a tightly woven pattern from these threads I am pulling together – oh no. I am acutely aware that in another 6 months time, things will have shifted round again and websites will have to be revisited. Anyone who says a website is “finished” clearly hasn’t been at this long!
So I am pulling these threads together, just enough to make a coherent whole: perhaps a loose weave or maybe just a more tightly wound ball. I am not enjoying it – I will not pretend otherwise, but having seen how much I have created this year, in terms of content and material (!) it really needs to start coming together and working better.
Do I have any helpful, supportive advice for myself or for those of you creatives under taking similar challenges?
Nope.
Not a nelly.
Really?
Well, OK, OK maybe a couple of things are keeping me going:
– Mars bars and coffee
– noticing that I am actually doing what I said I would (quite rare and something that should be exhaulted)
-remembering this too, will pass
-noticing the juicy stuff planned for the New Year
-remembering the freedom that will come from doing this
So there you are. There was a reason for this blog post. If you are a creative person or someone who attempts to manage a creative person, please remember the words herein. We find this stuff really difficult, so if you know someone who can help us with it, please get them involved.
We need to be free to write, paint, create, imagine, inspire and come up with loony ideas that eventually make great sense….