Creative Rut
For the past few weeks (months?) now I’ve been noticing my creativity waning. I find it less and less compelling to pick up a camera or even to write about anything on Substack. I had a list of posts that I had prepared to start writing about with a few prompts, but within the span of 5 minutes, I deleted all of them.
Why? They just weren’t interesting enough. Not to me at least.
So now what? Take a break? I feel like I do enough of that with the frequency of my posts. Or rather, infrequency of my posts. I think my mind has not been on task lately, and perhaps it’s a bit of burnout. I don’t make any money off of this so it’s really no financial impact to me like it would for someone who makes living from it, but I do feel as if I need to do something.
I think the last little spurt of creative spirit came when I was on a recent trip to Washington DC with my family. Taking the time to take a few photo’s helped. Yes there were the usual touristy photo’s, but the ones that I felt made the most impact to me were the ones that had no touristy elements to them.
But I would hate to think that in order for me to be creative, I have to travel somewhere and be inspired by something new. If that were the case, I’d probably go broke. And I really don’t want to have to rely on that to get me going. There are times when I do get a spur of the moment thought, but it’s usually at the most inopportune time. I’ll usually take a moment to jot down an idea with the notion of coming back to it later, but a lot of times it amounts to nothing.
I feel a little stuck these days, but not for a lack of trying. I think if anything, I need to just stop myself from trying to force it.
As I write this, I’ve not only deleted some pre-made posts, but I also deleted my original post that was nearly complete, but never felt like my heart was in it. And so on the spur of the moment, I wrote this one instead. I’ll take some time to work my way around things and jot my ideas down as I come up with them. Always looking for inspiration or hoping ti will find me.
Until next time, happy shooting, writing, reading, or whatever you do to keep yourself going. Just don’t force it, let it come to you.
It happens. No matter what field of creativity. The first thing is to try and forget about it being a rut. When you go out and shoot, do it in a manner entirely different than normal. When writing, do share your experience as you did in this post. You’re not alone. Keep up the good work 🙏
My darling husband, you are one of the most talented and creative people I know. I witnessed the struggle you felt in writing this or anything this morning, and I will just reiterate that you shouldn’t force yourself to create (whether that be photography or writing) simply to have something to contribute here. That puts too much stress and anxiety on your shoulders about your creative process and causes the ruts we all get ourselves in. Life’s too short to make the things we love feel like a chore.
Secondly, start creating (again writing or photography) just for you. Take photos of things that catch your eye and that you find beauty in. Write about everything that comes to your mind or whatever you find yourself wrestling with. Do so without the intent to share those creations. In doing so, you’ll start figuring out what works are meant for the public eye and what works are simply meant for you. Either way, it’s a process meant to be enjoyed and not agonized over.
You are a beautiful soul and you have so much to contribute to the world, but it isn’t a race.
Love ❤️