Hello and thanks for reading another edition of The Most Creative which is here to prompt you into thinking about doing your Most Creative Work. Please take a breath before reading the story and try to read consciously or the message will fall flat.
There was a family of baby squirrels in the trees hanging over the backyard, but I didn’t know it when I opened the door and let psycho Teddy out.
I felt awful for these babies because learning how to navigate the light branches seemed to be challenging enough, but now there was a small dog barking at them from below.
In this moment I saw a metaphor for doing our Most Creative Work. While it can often feel incredibly boring to sit down and write, compose or send important emails, it really is an exciting world that we’re navigating.
There’s Nothing to Hold On To
We have to grapple with uncertainty. Will people like what we’re doing? Will it work out for us?
And all the while we have the small dog barking at us from below - the demands of making a living and the pressures from family, society and the economy.
In the end, the squirrels figured out a way out of the hectic situation. None of them fell to the ground and became food for my dog thankfully.
How We’ll Get There
We have to call in faith that we can and will navigate the unstable terrain of our Most Creative Work, but faith has to coexist with the courage to keep working.
While the summer months can be lazy times, and it’s ok to catch your breath, but pay attention to how spending 20 minutes on your Most Creative Work feels compared to 20 minutes spent ruminating about the past or things that aren’t going well in your life.
I once heard an interview with Steven Kottler about how being in the flow state is like taking all the street drugs without actually being on them. That’s why it’s either addictive (in the case of extreme sport athletes), or it can be terrifying in the case of most creative people.
It’s terrifying to leave behind the responsibilities of a steady job for an hour and just make really weird stuff. And it’s terrifying because you’re navigating these unstable branches in the trees of your backyard.
But I imagine we all want to be out there running wild rather than sitting on the ground and barking at people for coming into our space.
Do you ever take time to consider that doing your Most Creative Work is like jumping out into unknown territory with no stable ground to hold on to? How does this feel?
From The Most Creative Instagram: Talking about how there is never a perfect moment to get started. The tree in this thumbnail is exactly the one where the squirrels were running on.
I am getting everything together for my Confident (Enough) on Camara workshop on Tuesday night at 7pm EST. It costs $47 CAD ($35 USD) and includes a replay within 48 hours of it happening.
I choose this topic because although I’m an introvert, I’ve seen the power of showing up on video to share my thoughts or my music, and I wanted to create something for people in the same boat as me.
Thanks for reading, see you soon!
Good words on courage! I can relate but at a different level. I'm 80, possibly approaching the end of my life, so am not in need of income. Yet I am in need of creating and bringing the deepest meaning to this stage of life. It is a grand adventure, indeed!