Re-Energizing Your Creative Self
It’s easy to let your creative pursuits fall by the wayside when you are focused on your career and making money. However, not prioritizing your creativity can leave you feeling stuck and unfulfilled.
In today’s episode, I’m talking about why it’s important to re-energize your creative self, including how to know when it’s time to make creativity a priority and the challenges that might block you from making the time. I’m also sharing some ideas to keep you from getting stuck, and the benefits that come from taking time for creativity.
The most important thing really is to carve out the time and do it. Even if it’s once a week, you’ll see noticeable changes to your energy and mood and perhaps even a clearer path forward when you get your creative juices flowing.
And if you’re looking for extra support in reconnecting with your creative self, I’m here to help you on the path to a more energized and creative you. Visit my coaching page or send me a message to learn more.
In this episode, you’ll learn...
[02:37] My experiences with creativity and jobs that pay the bills, and how owning my own business has given me more creative freedom
[05:50] How to know when it’s time to re-energize your creative pursuits, and the common challenges that often get in the way
[07:49] Questions to ask yourself if you’re worried about having to trade financial security for a more creative path
[09:02] The importance of practicing your creative pursuit and working on your growth mindset
[11:20] Why you have to make time for your creative pursuits
[14:43] The benefits you can expect when you make more time for your creative pursuits
This season is all about the different kinds of leaps you can make in your life. If you’re looking to re-energize your creativity, be sure to tune into this episode.
If you’re in the middle of navigating your own crossroads moment, check out my change planner and use it as a tool to help you as you plan your path forward!
Links mentioned in this episode…
Mindset: The New Psychology of Success by Carol S. Dweck
Download my FREE change planner
Check out my Catalyst Coaching program
Transcript of Episode 43: Re-Energizing Your Creative Self
[00:00:00] Lisa Hoashi You identify as a creative person. This identity has shifted over time through various phases of your life. Maybe there were times when you were actively working toward being an artist or having a career as a creative professional, yet making money is always the reality. So maybe you made some choices that have eventually led you to a place now where you feel really far away from your creative and artist self. And you would love to get back there. But your job takes up so much of your head space and time and other parts of your life. Maybe you have kids or other family obligations. Lots of other stuff have made it really hard for you to get back into making things, into expressing yourself and being the creative person that you know you are.
[00:00:54] Welcome to Leap Like Me, the podcast that helps you to be bold in life, to stretch what's possible and find more adventure, joy and purpose along the way. I'm your host, Lisa Hoashi. I'm a life coach who can help if you're ready to take a new, more authentic direction in life. On Leap Like Me. We share the inspiring stories of people like you who have made a brave leap and offer practical tips for how to set your leap in motion, too. Let's get started.
[00:01:34] Hello, everyone. I'm Lisa Hoashi, and this is Leap Like Me. On today's show, we're talking about how to know when it's time to re-energize your creative self, why it's important and what you can do today to get started. The scenario that I described is so familiar because a lot of my clients come to me with exactly this issue. It's why they're seeking support for their leap, which is often a leap from a professional job that they're good at, that pays well and feels safe and affords a certain status and security. But it feels stifling and doesn't let them express their true self, which is more creative, adventurous and even counterculture. So these can be lawyers, teachers, doctors who feel more like themselves when they're painting, writing, designing interiors, dreaming up retreats and community and entrepreneurial type ideas.
[00:02:37] I can identify, looking back over my own career stories. One of the threads that runs all the way through it is the question of what role my creativity would have in my work. When I was just starting out, I aspired to be an author, someone who wrote books and articles full time, led purely by my own creative vision. And then reality hit and I needed to make money. My first job out of college was as an editorial assistant at an art magazine. As I moved up the ranks, I spent long days writing and editing and copy editing, and then I would try to go home and write my own things. Let me tell you, the letters start scrambling on the page. After so many hours of staring at type. And I realized that this was not going to work. So then I experimented with easy part time jobs that paid the bills and gave me health insurance so that I would have more capacity to write in the rest of my time. There are issues, though, with this model too. I felt after a while like I was wasting my time. I felt bored and I felt like I wasn't making enough progress in my own creative work to justify having a dull job. Every career move I've made has been me trying to figure out what role my writing and creativity should best play in my job and in my life in a way that worked, that felt good, that felt like I was using my time well, that allowed me to pay the bills, that allowed me to express myself and develop myself in a way that felt like I was using my potential. And also, it's always been important to me that in some way I'm contributing to making the world a better place.
[00:04:25] Today, I'm really grateful to have found what feels like a really good mix for me. It's taken a lot of experimentation, tinkering, intention, a few bold leaps, and a lot of perseverance. But for now it feels like I'm on the right track. My coaching practice allows me to work with some incredible people who are also creative, and I love seeing the impact of our work together. Working for myself gives me flexibility and a lot of choice in how I want to keep learning and developing and where to focus my energy and time. This year, one of the ways in which I'm continuing my growth is as a facilitator and group coach, so I'm expanding both my expertise and offerings in this area and that feels really exciting and inspiring. And after many years of diligent work and figuring it out, my business abundantly supports me and my family and also allows me to give back 2% of the revenue to causes that are making our world more equitable.
[00:05:24] And this year it's even supporting me to take time to work on my memoir, a literary writing project that has been on hiatus for the last several years. It's supporting me to hire a writing coach who's going to help keep me accountable and also offer perspective on the project along the way. I can't tell you how exciting and scary it is to devote more time to this creative undertaking.
[00:05:50] Okay, so that's a bit about me. What about you? Is it time to invest more in the development of your own creative self? Is it time to pivot in your work so you can show up as more of your creative and expressive self? Is it time to re-energize these creative pursuits? Maybe you're wondering, how do I know if it's time? So here are some signs. One you think about a lot. Number two, you feel these longings. You feel these tugs. You fantasize. And maybe even recently, there have been times when you've seen people doing what you would like to do and you felt twinges of jealousy. Number three, maybe you feel like you live a double life sometimes. Sometimes you might find yourself in situations where you feel kind of indignant, like, What am I doing here with these people? They don't know the first thing about me. This is not me. And number four, you keep trying lots of things to re-energized your creative self, but you keep getting stuck. All of these and in any combination can be signs that it's time for you to re-energize your creative self and your creative pursuits.
[00:07:08] Before I offer you any ideas on what you can try next, It's super important to talk about some of the most common challenges that often stand in people's way when they want to shift to a more creative path. The most common are one the fear of making less money and having less security. Two the fear of failure or not being any good at whatever you want to create. And three, finding that it's near impossible to make time for your creative pursuits. If you face any of these challenges, let me offer you some ideas on how to make sure that they don't keep you stuck.
[00:07:49] Let's start with number one the fear of making less money and having less security. Do artists generally make less money than people who work in professional or corporate jobs? Yes. Some simple research on the internet could probably turn up a lot of numbers on that. And should that stop you from pursuing a creative path? I'd say no. No, it shouldn't stop you. So here are some things to think about. How could you both explore a more creative path and increase your feeling of security as you do it? What would you need to do? Is there a way to combine your desire for a more creative path and also make the type of money you'd like to? Is there a shift in your lifestyle that might support you to move along a more creative path? The most important thing is that you don't let your fear stop you from exploring. Ask What if? The more that you can stretch what is possible, the more ideas, creative ideas you're going to have for how to tackle this.
[00:09:02] Number two. Let's talk about the fear of failure or not being any good at whatever you want to create. It can feel scary to start working toward a dream because we worry that we might fail. Dreams are super important to us, and when your dream is to create things that are good, that are beautiful, that are appreciated by others, you also might worry that maybe you don't have the talent to make it any good. Really, what you need, though, is to again not let this fear stop you from making progress. The most important thing is that you start practicing whatever it is that you want to be good at. Find some way to start and to make some regular time to practice. No one gets good at anything without putting in time to practice. Commit to using a growth mindset in this area of your life. And if you need to learn more about the difference between a fixed and growth mindset, I highly recommend that you pick up the book Mindset by Carol Dweck.
[00:10:08] Number three, the challenge of finding that it's near impossible to make time for your creative pursuits. This is a super common challenge. When you work a full time job, it takes up so much time, mental space and energy in your life, so it can be hard to find space for your creative pursuits. If you struggle with this, know that you are not alone. Bandwidth is a very real challenge, especially if you have small children, other family obligations, or time commitments. Hang on there because we're going to talk about how to make time here in a moment.
[00:10:47] All right. So in today's episode so far, we've covered some of the biggest signs that it's time to re-energize your creative pursuits and see if they can lead you on a more creative career path. We've also covered the three most common challenges to getting started. As I mentioned before, I often work with clients on this type of pivot. I help them prioritize and begin dedicating time to re-energize their creative practices. I see them make incredible shifts, and I know you can too.
[00:11:20] So if after listening to this episode, you feel ready to reinvest in your creative self, here's the first thing you need to try. Carve out the time. I'm going to be a bit tough with you here. You've got to make the time. This is an indisputable truth. You must make time and space for your creative pursuits if you want them to grow and take you on a more creative path. So reflect on your schedule and daily life to see where you might be able to carve out some time for this. It doesn't have to be a huge amount of time. It's a place to get started. There are so many different approaches. So this is about finding which one will work for you. One of my clients who had a demanding day job revived his creative practice by giving himself a creative retreat every Saturday morning for 30 minutes before his partner got up and they started their day together. He laid out all of his painting materials on his desk before he went to bed the night before to make sure he'd do it. Another of my clients who found it challenging to find space between a fast paced job and mothering two children signed up for a class once a week. This gave her a regular commitment that helped ensure that she both left work on time and arranged ahead of time that her husband covered dinner and bedtime with the kids while she was at her class.
[00:12:52] I'm also a mother of two small children and have a job that could always use more hours. Here's how my days are usually divided. My husband and I get the kids ready for school, and once they're at school, my workday begins. These are precious hours with a lot to do because when my kids get home, I want to be fully present for them and my family. I don't work in the evenings or weekends because that's the time for rest, fun and friends and family. So one thing that has been helping me carve out time for creative projects is simply by accepting that I give some of my work hours, those precious work hours, to my creative projects, and I do the same for my workouts, by the way. I schedule them during my work hours and just accept that they must be done in that time. I ask my work to adjust my creative hours and my exercise hours and not vice versa. I'm trying to prioritize them as the foundation of my well-being and insisting that they need to come first.
[00:13:58] And this is what's been working for me lately to make the time. There are definitely days where it's stressful to fit it all in. There are definitely days where I have to skip a workout or skip the hours, for example that I might be writing my book because I might have a sick kid or I might have a heavy work day or a deadline that's coming up and that's okay. I just allow them to be skipped and I get back on to the routine later. As I mentioned before, this is all about just making more progress than you would otherwise. So you will need to figure out also what works for you and keep experimenting with that. I hope you've got some ideas from today.
[00:14:43] Before I wrap up, I wanted to give you a glimpse into what can happen next for you Once you start giving more time and space to your creative pursuits, you start to feel energized. You feel your inner spark. You might start to trust yourself more. You start to see where this could go next. You uncover clues about your path. You meet people who inspire you, guide you, support you, and connect you to new opportunities. This is the place where change starts to unfold. So this is so exciting. And it can all begin with such a small gift of time and space to yourself.
[00:15:24] Hey there, It's Lisa. And thanks for joining me for this episode of Leap Like Me. If you're at your own crossroads moment in life and are ready to get clear and moving in a new direction, there are a lot of ways they can help. This is why I have my Catalyst coaching program. Go to LisaHoashi.com for more. Until next time, be bold and take good care.
