Striving and Stressed Out – Allowed to Slow Down

Creativity Killer #3, Striving and Stressed Out

As I walk through the daily pieces of my creative business, some days come easier than others. Sometimes, I’m focused and on task and cranking things out. Then other times, I feel as though I’m slogging through mud while walking uphill in a snowstorm.    

What makes the difference? Why are my ideas exciting and energizing one day but overwhelming and unappealing the next day? What gets in the way of my motivation and kills my creativity? In this post, we’ll talk about the third of seven creativity killers and give ourselves permission to move beyond them.

What is striving?

The word hustle shows up a lot in the online world. Everyone seems to glorify this sense of striving for goals. But what is it really and do we really want it?

Dictionary.com says striving is to exert oneself vigorously; try hard; to make strenuous efforts toward any goal; to contend in opposition, battle, or any conflict; compete; to struggle vigorously, as in opposition or resistance; to rival; vie.

Sounds intense.

For me, striving is when I’m trying to be ahead of where I actually am. It feels like a race against time. A race I can never win.

Striving has an honorable side.

It takes effort to achieve goals, to get up and do something we don’t always feel like doing. It takes persistence to step outside of ourselves and make something work, to face the fears that show up along the way.

But striving can turn extreme.

I recognize it when I’m trying to achieve too much, improve too fast and in too many different directions. When life becomes a competition against time, I’ve taken it too far. Then, my focus turns into sacrifices that alienate important pieces of life to increase a false sense of productivity. In actuality, the panic leads to less focus and productivity and instead runs me down physically, psychologically, and emotionally.

When we glorify lack of sleep, instant success and our own busyness, we have fallen into the epidemic of striving, the trap of hustle.

How does this extreme type of striving affect creativity?

• As I enter panic mode, it becomes harder to cultivate ideas, especially new ideas. I work better from a place of rest mixed with an I-can-do-this attitude. Panic tells me I have reason to feel stressed and afraid.
• When I strive, I compare myself to others and feel behind, racing to catch up with those who may be years ahead of me simply because they have worked at it longer (an unfair comparison).
• Striving encourages a need for instant gratification in a culture that is obsessed with it. Most things that I need to learn won’t happen overnight. When I hustle in an area that needs time, I apply unneeded pressure to the learning process. And my creativity is suffocated under pressure.
• I know I am striving when I sacrifice rest and when restlessness becomes a way of life, I get stressed out. Lack of rest and stress affect my ability to concentrate and work through my emotions, which in turn limit my creativity and concentration.
• When my brain is too busy trying to keep up, it has trouble focusing and making decisions. It’s hard to pick the next step.

Moving past striving into thriving.

• Take time off and away from the places and devices that connect you to striving. More and more, I hear people taking sabbaticals from technology or certain apps and talking about the refreshment they feel as they do it. You don’t have to take weeks off to take time away. Sometimes, it simply helps to limit those times or do something else for 15 minutes. Take a walk. Outside in the real world. Look around you and really see it.
• Look at the big picture of your goals. How long can you really maintain this pace? Ask yourself if that is the kind of life you want.
• Creative moments always help clear my head and remind me to slow down so I can see each piece and complete it well. If you want some watercolor and lettering project ideas, check out these posts Watercolor Techniques, Trillium tutorial, Tulip Drawing with Loose Watercolor, Easy Calligraphy with a Pencil.
• Slow down. Learn what you need to learn deeply and at your own pace. No one will accomplish your goals like you or for you. You want to learn well, not just fast, even if there is a lot to learn. You have time.

How do striving and hustle affect you? What do you do to move through them? (Just comment below. I’d love to read your thoughts.)

You are allowed to slow down and find your own pace.

I hope this post gave you something to think about and a few ideas on how to turn your striving into thriving.

Happy creating!

Creativity Killer #1 – Perfectionism – Allowed to be Imperfect

Creativity Killer #2 – Fear of Failure – Allowed to Make Mistakes and Keep Trying