One of my coaching clients is working on illustrating a book. She was extremely excited to get the job. She started off strong, but the last few weeks, her excitement fizzled to the point of dread. She was stuck.
She just couldn’t get herself to work on it and then she was mad at herself for not working on it and she just got more and more stuck.
Stuck. Alongside overwhelm (which I wrote about last week), feeling stuck is another challenge that can keep us from moving forward.
There were many surface things going on that this client thought might be the problem such as finding time outside of her other job or having a place she really liked to work in. But we soon discovered that all tweaks in those areas fell flat. The issue was her lack of inspiration. It wasn’t fun anymore.
Some might say, “Well you just have to suck it up and follow through!” That really does suck though. It sucks the life right out of something that should be enjoyable. That mentality is exactly why so many artists end up hating making art when they try to make money with it.
Instead, we had to get back to the place of inspiration. This starts with letting go of the “shoulds.” The client listed all the ways she thought the project “should” be done and what it “should” look like.
After releasing that, she played with what she wanted to do, which was a lot lot more messy experimentation! When she gave herself permission to think in this way and follow her inspiration, she got so many ideas. It even seemed like she was flowing into what would make her illustrations unique - what might be more her own style!
Needless to say, she had no problem working on her illustrations this week, even after a long day at her other job, even in the same space she felt she couldn’t work in before.
Where are you stuck? What “shoulds” are blocking all the inspiration? How can you give yourself permission to let yourself play and find the fun again?
(I know, I know. I said I was going to make this blog about tips and tricks for following your inspiration, but I wanted to share this story with you this week! Next week - I promise - I will provide practices to build trust in following your inspiration. Stay tuned!)