Understanding What Drives Your Motivation & Exploring Your Creative Blocks. Photography Mentoring & Education, Devon, UK.
It happens to us ALL. I promise. Probably more often than you think.
Creative blocks, or barriers to inspiration, can be described as the inability to access one's internal creativity. Those in creative professions—writers, musicians, performers, artists—are often more likely to be affected by creative blocks, which can last for days, weeks, months, or even years.
It certainly happens to me. Usually following a burnout from a particularly crazy couple of months- I’m just coming out of it now and it really has taken 2 months to feel inspired again. Luckily I didn’t have to work too hard this time to shake the funk, remove the lethargy and stumble across my next project, but here are some tips for you if you are feeling that lack of motivation…
We are less likely to be motivated if the projects we are working on don’t inspire us. If you are working on something just for a paycheck you will find it harder to connect with it and to enjoy doing it, which in turn will hinder your creativity. My advice here is to only take on projects (if that works for your business) that, (in the words or Marie Kondo…) ‘Spark Joy’.
Read anything & everything. For me, I know the feminist, political issues light a fire in my belly. So I read, and read, and ponder, and debate with my husband the issues of the world. I know that this is what inspires my work and so I follow this road until I am sitting in the car and an image creates itself in my mind’s eye.
Self care. If you aren’t feeling your best, if you are ill, burnt out or sick of juggling, then of course you cannot feel that trickle of inspiration that you are craving. Take the time, find the time to recuperate. It might feel like forever but it will work.
Make notes. My Grandad used to keep a tiny black notebook on him at all times when his memory started to fade. In it he wrote names, addresses, phone numbers, jokes, anything in his day that he felt needed remembering. I have started doing the same with my work, anything that niggles at me that I want to explore more goes in the notes on my phone, posts on social media are saved, a physical notebook on my desk is filling up with words that make sense to nobody but me- possible ideas that aren’t doing anything for me now but that I want to explore in the future.
Ultimately, your creative block as well as your inspiration is entirely personal to you. Only you have the map to find your way out of the murky fog of burnout, but connecting with other artists and doing what you love can help tremendously.
