The Direction of Daring
I’m coming to the realization that in every artist’s journey, we reach a point where we get bored.
We see this in life, right? We’re moving in one direction for a long time and after a while, we become a bit disenchanted with this way of moving so we crave novelty. We start a new job, we pick up a new hobby, we go on vacation or even move somewhere new.
When I was younger this would show up as me dropping occupations. It’s why I’ve started so many careers and then left them to go back to school and move onto something else. I see nothing wrong with this and I have no regrets because the quitting of occupations that didn’t feel true to my soul led me to homeopathy and further, allowed me to gain the courage to pursue art, something I’ve wanted to do since I was a small child. Fortunately, I’ve grown enough now to know that when I get bored, I don’t have to scrap the entire vocation, I just need to allow myself space to experiment a little more.
Lately, I’ve been toying with the idea of trying some new things as far as my creative process goes — I am not quite ready to reveal any of this yet as it’s still in its inception and these things need sacred and private space to bloom and mature. But, it’s got me thinking about how for me, my artist journey has been marked by a points where throwing out rules is an imperative exercise.
It’s as if in every turn in this road, I come to a place within myself where I become conscious that there are structures that either I or someone else has set in place for me that keep me from my daring and my bravery. As I continue to create and to shape my life, I find myself examining these structures, asking myself, “is this keeping me safe or is this helping me grow?” If the answer is that it’s keeping me safe, then out the window it goes!
There is no place for safety in art.
There is no place for structure in expansion.
Because there is no place for fear in growth.
Right, wrong, should, shouldn’t, liked or unliked; these are all concepts that have no place when making decisions about my creativity. My art, my innovation, my imagination requires all my boldness and none of my petty little human fears. To be fearful is to give in to false and made up scenarios and to contract, to wither. To be inspired is to allow something cosmic to flow through me, to allow myself the very gift of life, to expand, to grow, to create.
And how liberating! To know there is not black or white and that I can take my art in any direction as long as it feels expansive and magnetizing. My only compass is that if it makes me feel liberated and alive and excited then that is the direction in which I must run.
I hope if you have been feeling bored lately, this inspires you to throw your old rules and structures and fears out the window and brace yourself for an exciting new turn.