What is it like to have creative block?
How is it to be bound by a merciless force? A discomfort you are so used to that you have forgotten to pay it any mind, and yet, is an unwelcome lodger in your heart and in your limbs, stiffening them.
Listen to the silent whispers, words of doubt spoken in and of your mind. It follows you and makes so that you never rest in joy or satisfaction, but forever feverishly spin in pursuit of an elusive fulfillment without.
We dare not even speak it’s name, for risk of summoning it. Oh, Fear…
As a person who has made a full recovery from more than 6 years of mental illness in my early twenties. I know it all too well. It is my bosom friend, and has kept me too long from my desire to become an artist.
This is what I’ve learned from overcoming it:
1) DO NOT HIDE IT
It doesn’t like to be confined, it is unendingly greedy. This artful phantom will fast hide in a hidden corner, lurking, and waiting to rise up again. There is a strange order in the world wherein you cannot escape your fears. Live from love they say, reject fear, they say. Nonsense! Do not silence it. I say embrace them both! Discover their raison d’etre. Forgive yourself for feeling it, you are not guilty of weakness. It’s just a signal to change. Listen carefully to this signal on the road, an indicator to rise up. Now is your chance!
2) BRAVERY IS A MUSCLE
You can develop courage to face even the most unimaginable difficulties, as long as you take it step by step. Give yourself time. Be kind to yourself, and the process can become a game! Wisdom can be attained. Practice doing things that scare you, that you feel the desire to become better at.
3) IT IS NOT REAL
We tend to start believing that fear is a trustworthy indicator, that it will conserve us from harm, and that is a treacherous thought. Do not give it power. Acknowledge it’s importance, thank you! Tweak something if need be, and goodbye, go on with your day.
4) A CALL TO ARMS
Fear is not a force that beckons us to inaction, fear is a force that is a call to arms, to charge towards it with all our might and see it vanish before our eyes as the deceitful mirage that it is. It is often there as an opposing force to empower your conviction.
“Lala wanted to be brave for she brought upon herself many calamities. That was her training ground.”
5) BE THE HERO
We spend our lives running away from fear, and there is something to be said about going towards it full on, embracing it, giving in to it. It looses all it’s power.
I like thinking of those great heroes of stories often told in fantastical settings, such as that of Frodo and his companions. There is so much wisdom in these made up fables, in their hero’s journeys and adventures. Fate is good to those who conquer those fears, and all it takes is practice really. To try and try again, and let not small mindedness hinder your progress.
Good luck to all you warriors out there!
You ARE so brave already!
Mua!
Lala
Motivation Illustration 