When You're About To Give Up Remember This

Why playfulness is essential to the creative cycle and Brie Stoner's new book, Turned On is here (and I want to send you a copy!)

Hi Hi Hi! How’s your week been so far? I know it’s a big question, but I do love the feeling of connection it brings even through the screen. You can always hit reply and chat to me about anything and I’ll be sure to respond!

This week’s Welcome Wanderer contains some notes on:

• what to do with one of those wild ideas,

• how to welcome the creative cycle again and again,

• a prompt for more playfulness, and

• a debut book you MUST read by our Wanderer of the Week (I have a copy for you!)

Let’s get started…

Have you ever started a project with giddy enthusiasm, as in you’re absolutely delighted, dancing around, telling all your friends kind of excitement, only to watch yourself, sadly, peter out after a few hours, weeks, or months?

It always feels like a surprise, too, as if somehow we could escape the inevitable: the waning motivation. That initial spark and desire now feel more like a stroke of random ridiculousness. What was I actually thinking?!

I bet you probably have an idea you’re tossing around right now. You may have even started taking the steps to make it happen, and you’ve fallen into a hidden well of creativity and flow that you didn’t know you had. The actions come easy and you wonder if they’re divinely inspired. You’re on a roll!

Then, WHAM.

Sooner or later, you’ll be slammed with a bought of doubt. Or you run into people doing exactly what you’re doing, except better. Or the blindfold is torn off and you see how utterly unqualified you actually are. You conclude it was foolish to begin in the first place.

You stuff those creative thoughts deep into the recesses of your heart. And silently vow to never revisit it again. You get back to whatever you normally do on a Wednesday to help you feel successful and productive. Back to business as usual, your boring but necessary checklist, and your regular routines.

You tried the thing and you realized, after a few hot seconds, it’s just not for you. You weren’t cut out for it. You’re not that talented of a fill-in-the-blank. You should just stick with what you know how to do. Stop thinking you can switch things up or branch out.

But this have an idea - start a project - experience a lull in motivation - lose interest - get back to your life as usual as soon as possible cycle is a sign you’re an alive and curious human being. If we ignore or admonish it too many times we can develop a sort of scar tissue, wrapping our heart in a protective layer that argues, “Don’t bother. Stay in your lane. ”

But what if the cycle is the point?

What if starting, faltering (sometimes quitting), and beginning again is how we uncover what matters most? What if the lull is an opportunity to regroup and refine?

The parts of us yearning to dabble in something new and escape the well-worn ruts of our routine existence are persistent- welcomed reminders to never stop exploring the terrain of our life.

My gentle nudge for you (and me, too) is to enter into the familiar cycle of the creative process whenever it calls you, instead of growing calloused toward it.

No matter where your weird and wonderful ideas lead (and nothing is ever a dead end!), they’re inviting you to wander with them.

One of the reasons we have a hard time acting on our wild ideas more often is that our play muscles have atrophied. We treat every action in our life with such seriousness sometimes, speaking from experience here. Our well-meaning desire to be intentional with our every waking hour, turns into a trap, and before we know it, we’ve forgotten how to splash and bounce and scribble.

Be curious about…when was the last time you let yourself just play, whatever that looks like to you?

When the lulls come, play fills us with the energy and enthusiasm we need to keep trying and toying with interesting ideas and endeavors again and again throughout our lives.

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My mentor from afar and fellow wanderer, Brie Stoner, published her first book and it arrived in my mailbox yesterday! The title alone makes us blush with intrigue, Turned On: A Creative’s Guide to Awakening Presence, Pleasure, and Possibility. This book will hook you from the first sentence. Brie’s writing is phenomenal, poetic, and every page feels like a manifesto for the abundant life.

Here’s a little teaser from the chapter 1, Eros,

“We’re all done playing it safe; being a good, sweet whatever; and living a docile, spiritually neutered life.

…

I’m willing to bet that we are both wanting a spirituality that is as fleshy, earthbound, sensual, feeling, fierce, and creative as we are.

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This hunger is driven by a dawning realization that a life of achievement, or arrival- oriented ambitions that leave us exhausted, depleted, depressed, or burned out is not the “good” life. Those “one day” maps do not reveal the hidden treasure of the bountiful and pleasurable plenty, here and now. I have long since stopped using the maps for approval or validation outside of myself, both in my art and in my personal life.”

Can you tell…Brie is a soulful, fiery guide, who has fallen in love with the wandering path! I bought two of her books and would love to send one to you. I’ll send it to the first person to email me with their address!

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Thank you so much for reading and I’m so happy you’re here. I can’t wait to hear what you stuck out to you in this week’s Welcome Wanderer. Let me know in the comments below!