Ready... Set... Slow

This time last year, I woke up to the fact that the sense of hurry I was fostering in my day to day life had gripped my creative process. Hurry has a way of stunting our growth and harming our souls. It has a way of putting on this pressure to be anyone other than your most honest self.

I had just come off of a two year period where I didn't finish writing a song, I couldn't even dream about releasing music, I stopped playing music for fun, and putting pen to page was the most stress inducing thing I could do.  On one hand, I could say that I just didn't have the time, but in reality... I just felt so much pressure around my creativity. My inner dialogue sounded something like, 

"Why do you keep wasting time? 

You've lost your opportunity. 

I can't believe you feel so tired.

You haven't even produced anything. 

Hurry up and get yourself together."

The pressure was thick. 

Have you ever felt this kind of pressure? 

Creative Pressure is all around us. Pressure to be the best, to rapidly produce, and to perfectly grow. Creative Pressure is the weight you feel on your chest that tells you to grow up and stop wishing you were an artist. It's the thing that sucks out all the joy of creating and blocks your eyes from seeing inspiration all around you. Creative Pressure is something we rarely talk about because we all think it's normal, and "just the way things are." We think that our lack of creativity just needs more pressure and a more controlling grip, but that just starts the vicious cycle we all know too well.  

I'm happy to tell you, there's a better option, a better way. It's a life perspective that depressurizes the creative process. 

It's called Creative Patience.

Rooted in confidence, Creative Patience is a lifestyle that trusts the process, focusses on excellence, and restores worth and value to the creative heart. It's cultivated by practicing slowness and attention to detail in the mundane life. It grows every time you extend grace towards yourself when you want to punish yourself. It helps you see yourself rightly.

Creative patience requires you to slow down and reevaluate. 

So that's exactly what I did. I took a year to just slow down. I stopped working, removed myself from social media, spent time with friends and family, read fiction for the first time since childhood, went on walks, fell in love with cooking and baking, and enjoyed deep connection in my relationships. I practiced slowness by hand-washing laundry, baking bread, and cleaning parts of my home that no one noticed or cared about. It was quite the year. And from this season, OLIVEHOME was birthed.

It's funny ... as soon as I slowed down and took the pressure off, I had the strength to take some of my most creative dreams and actually bring them to life. The new narrative in my head sounded something like... 

"Time is not running out.

There's no shortage of opportunities. 

Are you tired? Why don't you rest this afternoon.

That was a beautiful song."

The narrative in my mind took a 180 degree turn when I shifted my perspective from pressure to patience. 

What would creative patience look like for you? How would it change your life? 

REMEDY: Practicing Slowness 

The mundane life is where we learn the rhythms for our creative life. So let's start there. Patience in the mundane creates patience in the creative process.

Practicing slowness really just means exactly what you think it means. It's purposely slowing yourself down to learn the beauty of a slow pace. It's intentionally inconveniencing yourself for the sake of your inner health.

This could look like driving the speed limit, taking up film photography, growing a plant from a tiny little seedling, taking a day of rest every week, taking yourself on a date, learning a new craft, or even removing yourself from social media. It's about getting your mind and your heart to take a deep breath. 

I challenge you to find one thing this month that might help you practice slowness; just one thing that might challenge the sense of hurry in your soul. 

PERSPECTIVE: An Unhurried Life 

What we are after is a life filled with patience- patience towards yourself, others, and your entire creative process. Most likely if you find yourself on this blog today, I bet you could use some slowing down. I bet you would benefit from taking the pressure off. You might even finish that song if you stop yelling at youself to finish it and simply take a nap (I say that one from personal experience😂). You might actually allow yourself to learn something new, if you give yourself permission to learn it slowly. 

Anyways, I'm headed to finish baking some bread and then Noah and I are off to hunt for our very first Christmas tree! I'll just leave you with this one last tool... 

Here is a quick affirmation you can speak over youself. 

I am not running out of time. 

My window of opportunity is not closing.

There is enough time to slow down

and breathe.

There is enough time to take my art seriously.

My creativity is worth the time it takes to grow.

Speak it over yourself slowly and consistently, until you start believing it! 

Chat soon, 

Debs 🏡