Hello, how are you? 

This week I wanted to talk to you about the calm before the storm. We’ve got lots going on here behind the scenes and life is absolutely crazy. My mind is boggled.

As I’ve mentioned I am in the midst of rewriting our 7 keys course. It’s a lot. Then on top of this we’ve got our Make Art Your Living workshops coming up. I am trying to write a book and I feel like I am treading through treacle and I have no idea what direction I am going in at the moment.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/KS0bbanHvSk
Getting messy

I can feel that my mind is getting really messy about the direction I am going in and I can remember feeling this way about my art. Where am I going? What does this mean? What am I doing? This is happening to me a lot at the moment and I figured if I am feeling this way some of you might be too? 

You may be facing this dilemma with your art or a direction a job may be taking you in. For example, you may have just lost a job and you are sitting there thinking, what do I do now? Do I do something different? Shall I carry on? Should I do a course? It can be a really tough stage. 

And this can be the same when it comes to your art. You can sometimes end up back at the beginning stages of thinking, where am I going with this? What am I doing? What direction do I want to go in? I don’t know what materials to choose. This is the place I have got to at the moment. However, what I have been telling myself this time is that the calm is coming. Have faith in this as after every storm the calm will arrive. This is what gets me through.

Finding the calm

Knowing that it has given me some space in my mind and some space to trust the process, I am now sitting back from my art and thinking the answers will come. The same with the new 7 Keys course and the book. Answers will come. The calm will come and it will get done. 

The tasks and situations that we face can be overwhelming, even life in general. This is when you need to take a step back. Stop overthinking it. 

And again, when we face a really big task and our brain sometimes tells us that we don’t want to do it as it’s too overwhelming. It is the resistance, things won’t make sense and this is where the messiness begins. You start to question your direction and you can start to feel useless, like you just can’t cope. This is the storm riding the waves. This is when you step back, realign your thoughts and take a break and wait for the calm. 

To do this and to allow the calm to come through I break things down into the next three tasks. What are my next three tasks that I need to do? I then block all others out. When I do this I feel more in control and things are just so much more achievable.

Coming together

Reaching this tipping point to climb up and overcome the block and the messiness can be difficult, but breaking things down into bite size chunks makes it all a lot more manageable and that moment when you can start to see it all come together is amazing. 

So here are my 3 tips for riding the storm and finding the calm: 

  1. Have faith – every storm must come to an end which is followed by the ‘calm’. 
  2. Step back – when things get too much and your mind feels messy, stop. Step back and realign your thoughts.
  3. Breakdown – When you’ve had a chance to step back choose your next three steps and focus on those only! 

So my message to you today is, things can get completely crazy and this is okay. It happens to us all. We all feel overwhelmed sometimes but it is so important to take those steps back. You’ve got this!

Much love, 

Michelle x.