We’d been talking of books and illustrations and projects wot matter to us when one of my people asked:
How do you develop creative courage? How do you know you have what it takes to start?
You can imagine my delight. Creative courage! What a thought!
Let’s traverse our way through the short version of my answer together…
Where I want to start, Dear Friend, is to talk about your heart, because this is who you’ll return to; this is who you’re riding shotgun with, and this is where you’ll seek the answers when things get bumpy or drawn out or things don’t go to plan.
You’re inevitably going to reach for the love. At some point, you’ll have to adventure back to your heart.
I know it’s quite a common story to hear that writing or drawing or insert your thing here is hard and laborious and going to cost you your soul, but I don’t believe that’s the case at all.
I believe it’s quite the opposite; that to be in connection with your creative force, your creative spirit- to understand why do the thing that you do- will be your creative tuning fork. Your compass.
We do need to be aware that we are embarking on a journey and it’s not one that’s easily supported by world of which we are a part. So, if creative courage is what you are interested in developing then please give some deep consideration to why your creative practice is important.
Why do you want to do this?
And you know what? A perfectly acceptable answer is just because you want to.
I’m of the firm opinion (and I seem to have a lot of those these days) that the whole purpose of us being here is to follow what we love, and to send things out into the world that contribute to mutual flourishing.
I believe that to make and create is how we respond to life moving through us; that the ideas, inspiration, thoughts that we’re gifted with mean something. Because I’m personally interested in how creativity facilitates wellness and belonging and our connection to the natural world, I understand my own creative practice to be of great importance.
That it’s a practice of wellbeing not only for me personally, but for those I share my life with; my human and non-human kin, and the land where my feet rest, my home, my place.
When I position all those things at the start point with me, I feel buoyed by a sense of purpose that’s vital and enlivening. That all the things that I’m in connection with- my birds, my trees, my plants, my horses- are all standing at my back. That all my natural allies are here with me.
So, the main question I want to ask (and remember, your answer can be as small or vast as you wish) is why is this thing you want to make important to you?
In my group, Creating Wild, there are many reasons that I’ve heard. To have time to slow down. To move through the world at a more human pace. To make sense of things. To understand ourselves better. To share our voice, to contribute to the conversation. For love, for joy, for rest. To have time out from the push and pull. It all matters, it’s all relevant.
Once you’ve identified your why, you have the fuel, the sustenance, the juice to power not only this magnificent thing that you are setting out to create, or habit that you are wishing to begin, but two other very important things also:
The ability to say no (to all the things that will attempt to pull you away from creating), and the courage to meet creative risk.
Let’s talk a little more about creative risk (we’ll loop back to the ‘no’ part some other time), because the thing with creativity (and what I consider to actually be the most joyful part of creating) is not the end product that you’re left with, but the creative energy that you’re in relationship with, and who you become on the other side.
That’s the thing about creating— you never enter into the process and come out the other side the same.
What most commonly prevents us getting started is not a lack of skill or ideas- the skill we can develop and with a couple of gentle prompts, it’s likely that the ideas will come. What gets in our way is perfectionism or control patterns, where we attempt to maintain a fixed idea of who we are while we’re in the process of creating.
Creative risk isn’t referring to the work or the project or the thing you want to do; it refers to your sense of self. Your own identity. What you understand you’re good or bad at, what you’re skilled at and what you aren’t.
This is what we are risking; things not working out, meeting different parts of ourselves, exploring things beyond the edges of what we understand ourselves to be good at.
The whole nature of creating means you’re bringing something into existence that’s not yet known. It’s a collaboration not only this creative force that swills all around you and beyond you, but with the future version of you waiting to be brought to life.
You’ll feel this through the language of feeling, where this experience of creating comes alive in your body. Your mission, in this moment, when you feel that energy bubbling towards the edges of your skin is not to confuse it with something being dangerous or wrong. Not to let it trip you into an unhelpful story.
This is just your body registering the experience, understanding you’re in the presence of new-ness. That literally, you are making yourself new.
It’s nothing to be afraid of. It’s something to be celebrated and explored.
So as you begin, I have two things I would love for you to do:
Firstly, think about your why. Why do you want to do what you do? What moves you about this? What excites and tickles you?
Secondly, to start to notice when your body is registering creative possibility. When you feel an increase in energy in your system, and when you label that in a way that causes you to turn it into something negative or shut it down.
Increase your capacity to hold that creative potential. It’s a practice, like anything else.
I can’t wait to see what you make and create,
xx Jane
✏️ A Creative Prescription: A focused piece of creative mentoring to help you get unstuck and figure out your next step.
🎧 The Art of Bad Timing: A Free 3-Part Audio Series focused on reclaiming your creative time (even when life makes it feel all a bit impossible).
✨ Creating Wild: An online community for people who want to make things and would very much like creating to be a big (or bigger) part of their (somewhat messy, fabulous) life.