UNDER CONSTRUCTION

Most artists feel blocked from time to time. You could suffer from a block when you just don't feel like creating anything, you don't know what to create, maybe you're afraid to fail, or afraid to succeed, maybe you don't have a purpose or meaning for creating something. These are just a handful of reasons why creatives could get stuck. Sometimes these blocks will last for a few days, or maybe even weeks or months. And in some extreme cases: a year or even longer.

I've had a mild variant of one of those long creative blocks for roughly the majority of last year. A negative mindset that I've written about in two posts back: "Nobody is going to read this. So why even write something?" Is an example of a negative self-belief how I remained stuck. But then one of my guitar students recommended me a book called "The Artist's Way" by Julia Cameron. So I ordered it online. My first reaction to the book was a little skeptical, but in the end, I turned out to be wrong. The book is divided into 12 chapters that you have to read for 12 consecutive weeks. It helps you to get your "inner artist" out step by step. Every week when you read a chapter, you'll be going through positive affirmations, tasks, and writing exercises. And I must say: It's turning out to be quite helpful. I'm only at week 3, but I'm feeling really excited about the rest of the chapters. The book inspired me to start writing these short daily blog posts for example. That's one way how this book helped me a little bit with gaining insight into turning around negative self-talk.

So you could say that my new artistic self is "under construction". Most people won't see the change. But that doesn't matter. I'm noticing it. That’s what matters. The difference lies in the slight changes I've made in the past 3 weeks. Every small stepping stone will eventually create a bigger piece of work. As a musician, most people will only notice the huge endproduct: a new album, a new live show, a flashy expensive new music video. But to be an artist really lies in the little things I'm starting to realize now. If you're a creative that feels stuck I highly recommend you to read "The Artists Way" too.