October 14, 2024 • 23 mins
What if the key to unlocking your creative potential lies not in the typical advice given to artists but in embracing the natural rhythms of rest and reflection?
Join me as we challenge the toxic myth that artists must suffer to create great art. Valerie shares her personal journey chasing an external view of success to finding alignment and a healing approach to art. When we embrace the natural rhythms of our creativity, it will open our heart and mind to a more fulfilling creative practice.
Together, we explore the cyclical nature of creativity, much like the cycles found in the natural world. By shifting our perspective from "discipline" to "devotion," we learn to honor our personal rhythms and find a state of flow that feels both authentic and sustainable.
Discover how recognizing and embracing these natural cycles can lead to more joy and fulfillment in your creative endeavors. Whether you're planting seeds or harvesting the fruits of your labor, this episode will inspire you to nurture your creative spirit and find joy in the journey.
Celebrate with us as we mark the first anniversary of our Magic Makers Membership, a nurturing community where creativity flourishes without the burden of pressure or expectation.
Join Magic Maker's Today for just $20 during the month of October!
Thanks for listening to The UnBound Creative!
If today’s episode resonated with you, share it with a friend or leave us a review, it helps more creatives discover the show.
💌 Connect with us on Instagram:
@valeriemckeehan & @thatmakguy (that’s Mak with a K!)
Keep creating bravely. We’re so glad you’re here.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Valerie (00:00):
I just got back from a walk and I am constantly
reminded of how good that feels.
It sounds so simple.
We know, oh, walking is goodfor you, but it really is
incredible the shift thathappens just with the rhythm of
(00:22):
your feet on the ground, feelingthe breeze hitting your skin.
This is the important work I'malways in awe at when I take the
time to slow down, relax, be inthe present moment, soak up the
(00:43):
things like sunshine, thebeautiful leaves, the way
they're rustling around me, thelook of the clouds.
Those are not frivolous,throwaway things.
Those are the things of lifeand as an artist and a creative,
you get that.
(01:06):
You get to indulge in that inthis very spectacular way, and
it's part of why I want torelease artists and creatives
from toxic ways of being andhustling and feeling like you're
never good enough, because whenyou do that, you can open up to
(01:29):
what is here, feel more likeyourself and operate from that
place and it truly becomesmagical.
Thank you so much for beinghere.
You are listening to thePeaceful Creative Podcast.
My name is Valerie McKeon.
I am your host.
(01:49):
I am a recovering perfectionist.
I am a recovering angsty artistwho fell for all of the
rhetoric and the cultural talkthat artists need to suffer and
work hard.
The suffering, strugglingartist cliche is just so over
(02:11):
and done with.
I'm over and done with it and Iwant you to be as well.
This podcast is devoted tohelping you have a thriving
creative practice that literallyheals you and is medicine for
you, amidst a culture that istelling you you need to work
(02:33):
harder and go for all of thesegoals.
When it comes to being anartist, that you just may not
subscribe to and that is okay weget to choose, we get to break
the rules.
We get to tell our own stories.
I would much rather tell thestory of the peaceful, healed,
(02:57):
regulated creative.
I also want to tell you that octOctober, is the one year
anniversary of my membership,the Magic Makers membership.
I cannot believe it's been ayear.
It's been an amazing year.
We paint, we learn how to paint, there are tutorials, but it's
so much more than that.
(03:18):
It is this.
It's my heart for creatives andyour heart, because to me,
pretty pictures aren't enough.
A pretty painting if it isempty and you struggled through
it in the sense that you weren'tfeeling good and you were
angsty and perfectionist throughthe whole thing and you don't
(03:40):
feel like it's good enough.
That is not the way of beingthat I want you to have and the
way I want you to be.
I want you to have a practicethat fills you up.
Just as you play with thesebeautiful, pretty pigments and
we learn to paint landscapes.
We talk a lot about nature andimmersing yourself in what I was
(04:03):
just saying about going on awalk, you will see the light
differently, you will see thetrees differently, colors
differently, get to express thatworld around you in a tangible,
very real way.
We use soft pastel, which isthe most tactile medium.
It has a somatic element thathelps you really work through
(04:25):
your feelings.
I think it helps you get intouch with those deeper parts of
yourself when you can learn tolet go and surrender in
creativity.
So it's really about a holisticapproach to being an artist and
a creative.
It's a way of being in theworld.
I care about you and yourcreative heart because when you
(04:47):
come at your art from that place, magic is going to shoot from
your fingers and you're justgoing to love your life.
So much more is going to openup to you, because creativity
and art is a microcosm for lifewhen you can learn to surrender,
make mistakes, play, bevulnerable, risk when you don't
(05:15):
know the outcome, put yourselfout there in that way, it will
change everything.
Those are skills for a better,lit up life.
Oh, and you get to do it with awhole community of kindred
spirits who are committed tothis and doing art and living
(05:37):
this way.
So if that sounds interestingto you, all month long in
October I am offering a price of$20, only $20 to get in for
your first month.
Try it out, see if you like it.
You get to unlock all of thetutorials.
You get to be part of the livecalls that we have coming up.
(06:00):
I put out a digital magazineevery month just for magic
makers.
You get access to all of them,all of the library, and I would
just love it to see you in thereAlso.
The Facebook community is such arich, beautiful, encouraging,
nurturing, safe space forartists.
There are so many artists inour group who have been hurt,
(06:26):
who have been operating in thisway of feeling the pressure and
perfectionism.
They've been told they're notgood enough.
There's so much healing that ishappening in this type of
artist community.
I've been part of artistcommunities and let me tell you
they are not.
This way.
There is a support and a safetythat is mind-blowing to me and
(06:52):
I am so grateful to get to be apart of it, and I would love to
invite you into that space.
You can go to valeriemckeancomslash membership and get all of
the details Again.
You can join for just $20.
Unlock everything that I saidat ValerieMcKeoncom slash
membership.
(07:15):
The last episode I talked aboutthe worst advice given to
artists, which is, I believe,you have to work hard.
We hear all of these statementsthrown about.
You have to be disciplined, youhave to work hard, you have to
put blood, sweat and tears intoyour art.
I feel like this is a toxic wayof being and thinking for
(07:41):
artists.
I want to present yet anotherway, because I think this topic
is so important, because it's sopervasive.
We just have this in our facesall the time and it's never
enough and it's never going tobe enough.
There's another way for artiststo thrive, and it has to do with
(08:09):
the seasons.
Now, as a culture, we have theability to sort of forego the
seasons.
We can get anything in thegrocery store all year long that
we want.
We've sort of ignored thesenormal cyclical rhythms of
nature and I think we've ignoredthem in ourselves as well,
(08:34):
because you follow those samecycles as nature.
But it's really easy in ourculture to ignore that.
But I feel like when we getback a an external output
(09:03):
productivity type of way ofbeing, as well as a culmination,
rest, recovery, planting seedsway of being, we don't hear a
whole lot of the latter in ourculture when it comes to talking
(09:23):
to artists about what they needto do, need and in quotes,
because you have these peoplesaying this is how you become a
successful artist.
When we try to override this wayof cyclical, seasonal being,
(09:44):
especially for a creative, thenproblems start to happen,
burnout starts to happen.
You might wonder what's wrongwith me.
I'm not good enough.
That is something I hear allthe time from creatives.
That's one of the biggestproblems that a creative faces
(10:04):
is feeling that they are notgood enough.
But when you're operating fromthis place of being where you
are going for an external lookof success, whatever that is,
internal look of success,whatever that is without going
inside, you're falling for thatadvice of you must work hard,
blood, sweat and tears.
(10:24):
No creative can possibly liveup to all of that because it's
not how we're made.
You are made for a cyclical wayof being.
The very nature of creativityfollows a cycle where the seed
(10:45):
gets planted and nurtured andwatered and then it is brought
to fruition and harvest andthere's a culmination and then
there is a rest period beforemore seeds become planted.
That is normal.
I think we need to normalizethis idea of a creative's
(11:08):
natural cycle and way of beingand I believe you can have the
success that you want.
That is true to you, not theexternal cultural version, but a
version of success that's trueto you.
And it's going to come when youcan honor this way of being.
(11:33):
It's going to allow you to getinto flow.
You're not going to burn out.
You're going to be able to gointo deeper forms of expression
because you're going to have thespace to be open to it.
It's a wintering, it's anallowing for seeds to come in
(11:54):
and bloom.
But if you're constantly on thehamster wheel of productivity,
you're only ever going to be asgood as your last project and
your last piece and it's goingto become chasing, constantly
proving chasing, working harder.
There's not going to be a pointof relaxing, of resting, of
(12:21):
pausing, of filling your vesselbefore outputting.
It's a dangerous way of beingthat is just going to lead to
burnout, lead to beingdisconnected with yourself,
(12:43):
connected with yourself.
We need to have moreconversations, as creatives,
around this idea of beingcyclical.
It is how we are made as humanbeings.
It's how our bodies are made.
We are in cycles.
If you think about even justmale and female have female
menstrual cycles.
Males have more of a 24 hourcycle, but we have the seasons,
(13:03):
we have the moon phases.
I mean every single part of our, our being here in this world
follows rhythms and followscycles and development.
We look at nature and gardeningand you sow the seeds and the
harvest is a part of that.
(13:24):
But yet, as artists, we're toldwe need to be in perpetual
productivity, perpetual harvest,and if not, that's not deemed
as externally successful.
And I just want to leteverybody off the hook that it
gets to be cyclical, becausethat's who you are, that's how
(13:49):
you are made as a human being.
So doesn't it make sense that,instead of giving artists all of
this advice to be in perpetualharvest all the time doesn't it
make sense that we need to benurturing and fostering the
creative spirit and the creativeheart in a way that follows
(14:12):
these natural rhythms, and maybethose rhythms are something
that is.
It's just followed through theweek.
I mean we can break it downinto monthly, where you are not
beholden to producing all monthlong or all week long.
(14:35):
It's building in those periodswhere you can be satisfied with
what you've created.
Let a project come to aculmination, rest, take stock,
have it come to that full circleof a creative cycle, instead of
just being on to the next andon to the next and then, before
(14:58):
you know it, you lose yourselfor you burn out or you feel
constantly overwhelmed and maybeyou don't know why.
So this is another answer,another piece of advice that I
would give to creatives thatgoes against the toxic advice
that we have of our culture thatyou must work constantly, never
(15:19):
stop.
You must be disciplined.
I heard somebody say recently,instead of the word discipline
which I agree, I do not likethat word she said think of the
word devotion.
To have a devotion to somethingjust feels so much better.
(15:40):
It feels wonderful and lightand life-giving.
So to have a devotion insteadto your creative being, to your
art, what a difference thatmakes than saying you must be
disciplined to your art.
It makes it feel like, nomatter how you feel or how
(16:05):
you're feeling, you can't takecare of yourself.
You need to have a disciplineto this output and to this way
of productivity.
But instead, if you think abouthaving a devotion to your
creative self and your creativeheart, your creative practice,
what does that change?
To me, a devotion to somethingmeans you are going to do what's
(16:30):
best for that thing and youwill know.
You will know when it's timebecause of the devotion that you
have to your creative being andpractice.
You will know when it's time tokind of get your butt in gear
and make something.
You'll know that.
(16:51):
You'll feel that.
It will feel like, okay, I'veand may be facing fear, but I
know that I have this to get out.
I know that I have this projectto complete.
It is time for me to output andhave this level of productivity
and get to experience thatseason, that season of harvest
(17:15):
and producing.
You will feel that.
But it's also listening to thatother part of you that's saying
I need to fill the vessel, Ineed to regroup, I need to maybe
play without it doing anything,without it producing an outcome
(17:36):
in any way that you can sell oreven that you may want to keep.
You could be in a period ofjust sowing seeds and seeing
what, what happens for the puredevotion of your creative self
to do that.
That is normal.
You may be in a period whereyou're just not feeling it.
(18:00):
You can just feel it withinyourself that this is a time
that you need to take care ofyourself and, just like me
taking that 20 minutes today totake a walk, even though I have
my entire to-do list, I couldsense in myself that that is
what needed to happen.
(18:21):
That period of just rest.
Let's input a little bit, let'sfeel the breeze, instead of
saying, nope, I got to bedisciplined to my craft, let me
get in there and not listen tomyself.
So really, I guess the bottomline is getting to know yourself
and understanding that it's notan if you have cycles, you do
(18:46):
have the cycles.
It is, you are human.
It is in getting to understandwhat that looks like for you and
knowing and relying on the factthat you are okay, perfectly
human, beautiful, incredible,amazing, creative soul with your
(19:07):
cycles, instead of maybe whatwe hear culturally for artists
that they have to do to beconsidered a successful artist.
You get to honor your cycles ofcreativity and actually, in
doing that, you are going to beso much more creative.
(19:28):
How much more are you going tobe able to produce and create
when you have honored thoserhythms you feel good, it's
going to flow.
That's when you're going to bein flow state.
You're actually going to beable to do more, honoring the
rhythms, than if you just gowith this wisdom of be
(19:50):
disciplined, work hard, go atthe grindstone regardless of how
you feel it.
Just it doesn't make any sense.
But I don't hear a lot of peopletalking about that cyclical
nature of it, the rhythmicnature of it, but it really is
about getting to know yourselfand what you need.
And again, there is a periodand a time to actually make
(20:15):
something happen and bringsomething to life.
That is what a creative does.
If you feel all of theinspiration and you're filling
yourself up and it's so amazing,but you never actually
materialize or express anything,that defeats the purpose too.
(20:36):
That's why we need all of itand there's no one size fits all
.
It's honoring that within youthat is going to produce as well
as is going to input and plantthe seeds and be in a place of
(20:57):
activity that might notnecessarily be viewed as
productive.
So I hope that this is helpfulto you and just a new way of
thinking about your productivity.
As a creative and an artist,you get to honor all parts of
(21:19):
you.
You get to be in a seasonalrhythm with yourself and know
that that is okay and that'smore than okay.
That is normal, that is a wayof being.
That is is how you are designed.
(21:39):
So the sort of a part two to thelast episode uh, about the
worst advice given to artistsand just another way of thinking
about this concept of workinghard, that there is a time for
the output.
But we have to think about theother seasons as well and going
(22:02):
through those cycles and really,on a fundamental level, what is
success for you anyway?
Because if success is required,being on the grindstone,
working so hard, constantoutputting does that sound good?
(22:27):
Is that a feeling that you wantto have?
Then it doesn't have to be thatway.
So I hope this episode washelpful to you.
Please let me know.
I always love hearing from you.
My DMs are open on Instagram atValerie McKeon.
We're going to continue to havelots of conversations about
(22:47):
this.
I really want to equipcreatives and artists with the
tools to help them come fromtheir creativity, from this
peaceful way of being thataligns with you, not with an
external factor, but with whatis true to you, because, as a
(23:08):
creative, you are the magic, youare the creator, the
masterpiece is you.
So I want you to feel the bestthat you possibly can and come
from these places that honor you, your rhythms, your creative
(23:28):
heart.
So stay tuned for more episodesthat are coming, if this is
helpful to you.
I would also absolutely love ifyou would leave me a review
that really helps other creativesouls find this podcast and a
new way of being.
Thank you so much again forbeing here and I'll talk to you
next time.
Bye.
I just got back from a walk and I am constantly
reminded of how good that feels.
It sounds so simple.
We know, oh, walking is goodfor you, but it really is
incredible the shift thathappens just with the rhythm of
(00:22):
your feet on the ground, feelingthe breeze hitting your skin.
This is the important work I'malways in awe at when I take the
time to slow down, relax, be inthe present moment, soak up the
(00:43):
things like sunshine, thebeautiful leaves, the way
they're rustling around me, thelook of the clouds.
Those are not frivolous,throwaway things.
Those are the things of lifeand as an artist and a creative,
you get that.
(01:06):
You get to indulge in that inthis very spectacular way, and
it's part of why I want torelease artists and creatives
from toxic ways of being andhustling and feeling like you're
never good enough, because whenyou do that, you can open up to
(01:29):
what is here, feel more likeyourself and operate from that
place and it truly becomesmagical.
Thank you so much for beinghere.
You are listening to thePeaceful Creative Podcast.
My name is Valerie McKeon.
I am your host.
(01:49):
I am a recovering perfectionist.
I am a recovering angsty artistwho fell for all of the
rhetoric and the cultural talkthat artists need to suffer and
work hard.
The suffering, strugglingartist cliche is just so over
(02:11):
and done with.
I'm over and done with it and Iwant you to be as well.
This podcast is devoted tohelping you have a thriving
creative practice that literallyheals you and is medicine for
you, amidst a culture that istelling you you need to work
(02:33):
harder and go for all of thesegoals.
When it comes to being anartist, that you just may not
subscribe to and that is okay weget to choose, we get to break
the rules.
We get to tell our own stories.
I would much rather tell thestory of the peaceful, healed,
(02:57):
regulated creative.
I also want to tell you that octOctober, is the one year
anniversary of my membership,the Magic Makers membership.
I cannot believe it's been ayear.
It's been an amazing year.
We paint, we learn how to paint, there are tutorials, but it's
so much more than that.
(03:18):
It is this.
It's my heart for creatives andyour heart, because to me,
pretty pictures aren't enough.
A pretty painting if it isempty and you struggled through
it in the sense that you weren'tfeeling good and you were
angsty and perfectionist throughthe whole thing and you don't
(03:40):
feel like it's good enough.
That is not the way of beingthat I want you to have and the
way I want you to be.
I want you to have a practicethat fills you up.
Just as you play with thesebeautiful, pretty pigments and
we learn to paint landscapes.
We talk a lot about nature andimmersing yourself in what I was
(04:03):
just saying about going on awalk, you will see the light
differently, you will see thetrees differently, colors
differently, get to express thatworld around you in a tangible,
very real way.
We use soft pastel, which isthe most tactile medium.
It has a somatic element thathelps you really work through
(04:25):
your feelings.
I think it helps you get intouch with those deeper parts of
yourself when you can learn tolet go and surrender in
creativity.
So it's really about a holisticapproach to being an artist and
a creative.
It's a way of being in theworld.
I care about you and yourcreative heart because when you
(04:47):
come at your art from that place, magic is going to shoot from
your fingers and you're justgoing to love your life.
So much more is going to openup to you, because creativity
and art is a microcosm for lifewhen you can learn to surrender,
make mistakes, play, bevulnerable, risk when you don't
(05:15):
know the outcome, put yourselfout there in that way, it will
change everything.
Those are skills for a better,lit up life.
Oh, and you get to do it with awhole community of kindred
spirits who are committed tothis and doing art and living
(05:37):
this way.
So if that sounds interestingto you, all month long in
October I am offering a price of$20, only $20 to get in for
your first month.
Try it out, see if you like it.
You get to unlock all of thetutorials.
You get to be part of the livecalls that we have coming up.
(06:00):
I put out a digital magazineevery month just for magic
makers.
You get access to all of them,all of the library, and I would
just love it to see you in thereAlso.
The Facebook community is such arich, beautiful, encouraging,
nurturing, safe space forartists.
There are so many artists inour group who have been hurt,
(06:26):
who have been operating in thisway of feeling the pressure and
perfectionism.
They've been told they're notgood enough.
There's so much healing that ishappening in this type of
artist community.
I've been part of artistcommunities and let me tell you
they are not.
This way.
There is a support and a safetythat is mind-blowing to me and
(06:52):
I am so grateful to get to be apart of it, and I would love to
invite you into that space.
You can go to valeriemckeancomslash membership and get all of
the details Again.
You can join for just $20.
Unlock everything that I saidat ValerieMcKeoncom slash
membership.
(07:15):
The last episode I talked aboutthe worst advice given to
artists, which is, I believe,you have to work hard.
We hear all of these statementsthrown about.
You have to be disciplined, youhave to work hard, you have to
put blood, sweat and tears intoyour art.
I feel like this is a toxic wayof being and thinking for
(07:41):
artists.
I want to present yet anotherway, because I think this topic
is so important, because it's sopervasive.
We just have this in our facesall the time and it's never
enough and it's never going tobe enough.
There's another way for artiststo thrive, and it has to do with
(08:09):
the seasons.
Now, as a culture, we have theability to sort of forego the
seasons.
We can get anything in thegrocery store all year long that
we want.
We've sort of ignored thesenormal cyclical rhythms of
nature and I think we've ignoredthem in ourselves as well,
(08:34):
because you follow those samecycles as nature.
But it's really easy in ourculture to ignore that.
But I feel like when we getback a an external output
(09:03):
productivity type of way ofbeing, as well as a culmination,
rest, recovery, planting seedsway of being, we don't hear a
whole lot of the latter in ourculture when it comes to talking
(09:23):
to artists about what they needto do, need and in quotes,
because you have these peoplesaying this is how you become a
successful artist.
When we try to override this wayof cyclical, seasonal being,
(09:44):
especially for a creative, thenproblems start to happen,
burnout starts to happen.
You might wonder what's wrongwith me.
I'm not good enough.
That is something I hear allthe time from creatives.
That's one of the biggestproblems that a creative faces
(10:04):
is feeling that they are notgood enough.
But when you're operating fromthis place of being where you
are going for an external lookof success, whatever that is,
internal look of success,whatever that is without going
inside, you're falling for thatadvice of you must work hard,
blood, sweat and tears.
(10:24):
No creative can possibly liveup to all of that because it's
not how we're made.
You are made for a cyclical wayof being.
The very nature of creativityfollows a cycle where the seed
(10:45):
gets planted and nurtured andwatered and then it is brought
to fruition and harvest andthere's a culmination and then
there is a rest period beforemore seeds become planted.
That is normal.
I think we need to normalizethis idea of a creative's
(11:08):
natural cycle and way of beingand I believe you can have the
success that you want.
That is true to you, not theexternal cultural version, but a
version of success that's trueto you.
And it's going to come when youcan honor this way of being.
(11:33):
It's going to allow you to getinto flow.
You're not going to burn out.
You're going to be able to gointo deeper forms of expression
because you're going to have thespace to be open to it.
It's a wintering, it's anallowing for seeds to come in
(11:54):
and bloom.
But if you're constantly on thehamster wheel of productivity,
you're only ever going to be asgood as your last project and
your last piece and it's goingto become chasing, constantly
proving chasing, working harder.
There's not going to be a pointof relaxing, of resting, of
(12:21):
pausing, of filling your vesselbefore outputting.
It's a dangerous way of beingthat is just going to lead to
burnout, lead to beingdisconnected with yourself,
(12:43):
connected with yourself.
We need to have moreconversations, as creatives,
around this idea of beingcyclical.
It is how we are made as humanbeings.
It's how our bodies are made.
We are in cycles.
If you think about even justmale and female have female
menstrual cycles.
Males have more of a 24 hourcycle, but we have the seasons,
(13:03):
we have the moon phases.
I mean every single part of our, our being here in this world
follows rhythms and followscycles and development.
We look at nature and gardeningand you sow the seeds and the
harvest is a part of that.
(13:24):
But yet, as artists, we're toldwe need to be in perpetual
productivity, perpetual harvest,and if not, that's not deemed
as externally successful.
And I just want to leteverybody off the hook that it
gets to be cyclical, becausethat's who you are, that's how
(13:49):
you are made as a human being.
So doesn't it make sense that,instead of giving artists all of
this advice to be in perpetualharvest all the time doesn't it
make sense that we need to benurturing and fostering the
creative spirit and the creativeheart in a way that follows
(14:12):
these natural rhythms, and maybethose rhythms are something
that is.
It's just followed through theweek.
I mean we can break it downinto monthly, where you are not
beholden to producing all monthlong or all week long.
(14:35):
It's building in those periodswhere you can be satisfied with
what you've created.
Let a project come to aculmination, rest, take stock,
have it come to that full circleof a creative cycle, instead of
just being on to the next andon to the next and then, before
(14:58):
you know it, you lose yourselfor you burn out or you feel
constantly overwhelmed and maybeyou don't know why.
So this is another answer,another piece of advice that I
would give to creatives thatgoes against the toxic advice
that we have of our culture thatyou must work constantly, never
(15:19):
stop.
You must be disciplined.
I heard somebody say recently,instead of the word discipline
which I agree, I do not likethat word she said think of the
word devotion.
To have a devotion to somethingjust feels so much better.
(15:40):
It feels wonderful and lightand life-giving.
So to have a devotion insteadto your creative being, to your
art, what a difference thatmakes than saying you must be
disciplined to your art.
It makes it feel like, nomatter how you feel or how
(16:05):
you're feeling, you can't takecare of yourself.
You need to have a disciplineto this output and to this way
of productivity.
But instead, if you think abouthaving a devotion to your
creative self and your creativeheart, your creative practice,
what does that change?
To me, a devotion to somethingmeans you are going to do what's
(16:30):
best for that thing and youwill know.
You will know when it's timebecause of the devotion that you
have to your creative being andpractice.
You will know when it's time tokind of get your butt in gear
and make something.
You'll know that.
(16:51):
You'll feel that.
It will feel like, okay, I'veand may be facing fear, but I
know that I have this to get out.
I know that I have this projectto complete.
It is time for me to output andhave this level of productivity
and get to experience thatseason, that season of harvest
(17:15):
and producing.
You will feel that.
But it's also listening to thatother part of you that's saying
I need to fill the vessel, Ineed to regroup, I need to maybe
play without it doing anything,without it producing an outcome
(17:36):
in any way that you can sell oreven that you may want to keep.
You could be in a period ofjust sowing seeds and seeing
what, what happens for the puredevotion of your creative self
to do that.
That is normal.
You may be in a period whereyou're just not feeling it.
(18:00):
You can just feel it withinyourself that this is a time
that you need to take care ofyourself and, just like me
taking that 20 minutes today totake a walk, even though I have
my entire to-do list, I couldsense in myself that that is
what needed to happen.
(18:21):
That period of just rest.
Let's input a little bit, let'sfeel the breeze, instead of
saying, nope, I got to bedisciplined to my craft, let me
get in there and not listen tomyself.
So really, I guess the bottomline is getting to know yourself
and understanding that it's notan if you have cycles, you do
(18:46):
have the cycles.
It is, you are human.
It is in getting to understandwhat that looks like for you and
knowing and relying on the factthat you are okay, perfectly
human, beautiful, incredible,amazing, creative soul with your
(19:07):
cycles, instead of maybe whatwe hear culturally for artists
that they have to do to beconsidered a successful artist.
You get to honor your cycles ofcreativity and actually, in
doing that, you are going to beso much more creative.
(19:28):
How much more are you going tobe able to produce and create
when you have honored thoserhythms you feel good, it's
going to flow.
That's when you're going to bein flow state.
You're actually going to beable to do more, honoring the
rhythms, than if you just gowith this wisdom of be
(19:50):
disciplined, work hard, go atthe grindstone regardless of how
you feel it.
Just it doesn't make any sense.
But I don't hear a lot of peopletalking about that cyclical
nature of it, the rhythmicnature of it, but it really is
about getting to know yourselfand what you need.
And again, there is a periodand a time to actually make
(20:15):
something happen and bringsomething to life.
That is what a creative does.
If you feel all of theinspiration and you're filling
yourself up and it's so amazing,but you never actually
materialize or express anything,that defeats the purpose too.
(20:36):
That's why we need all of itand there's no one size fits all
.
It's honoring that within youthat is going to produce as well
as is going to input and plantthe seeds and be in a place of
(20:57):
activity that might notnecessarily be viewed as
productive.
So I hope that this is helpfulto you and just a new way of
thinking about your productivity.
As a creative and an artist,you get to honor all parts of
(21:19):
you.
You get to be in a seasonalrhythm with yourself and know
that that is okay and that'smore than okay.
That is normal, that is a wayof being.
That is is how you are designed.
(21:39):
So the sort of a part two to thelast episode uh, about the
worst advice given to artistsand just another way of thinking
about this concept of workinghard, that there is a time for
the output.
But we have to think about theother seasons as well and going
(22:02):
through those cycles and really,on a fundamental level, what is
success for you anyway?
Because if success is required,being on the grindstone,
working so hard, constantoutputting does that sound good?
(22:27):
Is that a feeling that you wantto have?
Then it doesn't have to be thatway.
So I hope this episode washelpful to you.
Please let me know.
I always love hearing from you.
My DMs are open on Instagram atValerie McKeon.
We're going to continue to havelots of conversations about
(22:47):
this.
I really want to equipcreatives and artists with the
tools to help them come fromtheir creativity, from this
peaceful way of being thataligns with you, not with an
external factor, but with whatis true to you, because, as a
(23:08):
creative, you are the magic, youare the creator, the
masterpiece is you.
So I want you to feel the bestthat you possibly can and come
from these places that honor you, your rhythms, your creative
(23:28):
heart.
So stay tuned for more episodesthat are coming, if this is
helpful to you.
I would also absolutely love ifyou would leave me a review
that really helps other creativesouls find this podcast and a
new way of being.
Thank you so much again forbeing here and I'll talk to you
next time.
Bye.
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