Do you ever have this feeling? Wanting to make more art but life keeps getting in the way? This is such a normal feeling and I know people feel it from time to time within our memberships.

A good friend and Hub member, Chris Gonzales-Aden came to us with this. He has lots going on in life and is beginning to feel frustrated that he can’t get to make more art. I can totally relate to Chris’s situation.

In this blog post, I am going to share my three top tips with you on how I deal with this feeling and how we can pull some of that control back when life starts taking over.

Letting it be for a while 

I am experiencing similar feelings to Chris at the moment. There are so many things I want to get done but life has been stopping me from doing that too. Personally, I have some big things going on that I didn’t anticipate at the start of the year. These are impacting me and the bigger things I wanted to focus on this year workwise. 

You can’t just dismiss these feelings and life that is happening around you. It’s impossible to do that. I wanted to write my book this year, focus more on my own art as well as completing this endurance event in September. 

At the moment I can’t train for the event. Every time I start to train and do exercise in any way I start to become ill. There are some underlying health issues somewhere which are being looked into. These big emotions that I am going through are making it hard for me to find the time to focus on writing the book or find that extra time to work on my art.  

So right now I am really soul searching and thinking about each of these things and really asking myself “Is this still important to me? Is this urgent? Do I have a massive desire to do this now?” – If something is saying “Yes” to me then I will make this a priority. If it isn’t, then I am going to just let it be for a while. 

I will do it. I will come back to it when I have the time, strength and health to do so. It’s not forever, it’s just for now and I always use the saying “trust the process”. I really do believe in this. Trust what is happening, as everything always happens for a reason, good and bad. 

You just have to say “I will park this up now and when I come back to it in 2 weeks, a month, six weeks or even a year, I will be a much richer person in my experiences”.

Non-negotiable time 

Finding this non-negotiable time was basically how I set up United ArtSpace with two babies in my arms. If you have the desire to do something – the need to do it – you need to set this non-negotiable time aside each week to allow you to work on your project, dream, art, whatever it may be. 

You have to be pretty ruthless in doing this to make it happen but it really does work. You don’t cancel it for other commitments, you don’t do any other work bits, you focus on your desire, your dream. 

Back when my kids were babies I began to have the desire to set up United ArtSpace. I was up all hours working and with the kids. It was tough but I really believed in United ArtSpace and I really needed to get started so I knew I had to ask for some help to be able to get the ball rolling. 

I remember saying to people I have this strong desire to set up this online space but I am really struggling to find the time. So my mother-in-law said that she would have the kids for me a couple of hours a week. That was it. That was my non-negotiable time to get United ArtSpace set up. I would learn how to create an online membership and how to set everything up and that is what I did. 

Over time, 2 hours became 3 and 3 became 4 and so on. But the key thing here is to establish a routine at the same time every week to work on your dream, and your desire and belief in this dream starts to become a lot more purposeful.

Create triggers 

Another thing which really helps me is to set little triggers. So because I only had 2 hours a week to work on United ArtSpace at the beginning, I found stepping into a different environment really helped. Now you can do this with anything. I do this with my art time too, writing my book etc.

So for example, when I was getting United ArtSpace off the ground I would go and work in the garden. Mainly so I was close to the kids if they needed me but it wouldn’t eat into my time of work. 

I often go to the library to work on all things book related. 

To make art I would go to my studio where all my art kit is set out, maybe turn some music on.

It almost feels like you are stepping into a different world and your mind can make that switch and be productive for those few hours. 

Another example is music. Finding certain things to listen to when making art that really gets your mind into the creative stages. Then there’s clothing. For some people, they will always put an apron on when making their art. It’s habitual and their mind will go “Ah okay, let’s make some art”.

So creating these little triggers can really help and if you do them over the course of a few weeks, your brain will start to associate these triggers with your non-negotiable time.

The desire

These are just a few little tips that can help you and your mindset if you are feeling a little frustrated with life right now and not having the ability to do all you wish to. 

If you have the desire to make art or anything else for that matter, you really need to figure out why it is so important to you. It doesn’t always have to be a financial gain. You may want to make more art and spend more time doing so as it is really good for your mental health. It may help you process the world around you. Something may be helping you fine-tune a scale or grow in confidence. 

If it is feeding your soul, it has purpose. You just need to figure out what that purpose is and meaning is to you. 

Much love,
Michelle x