Creative But Isolated? The Advantages Of Creative Communities And Finding Your Own Creative Tribe
A life of creativity can sometimes feel like a lonely and isolated experience.
True, often being alone is just what's needed to get focused and create as freely as you can, without distraction from anything and anyone.
This is great for when you're in the midst of creating.
But that's not all the time.
What do you do the rest of your time? Do you have sessions of creativity in which you become completely involved and lost in creating, then return to your "everyday" life, almost pretending that the time you just spent creating didn't even happen? Almost as if it's some secret alternative life that people would disapprove of? How helpful and supportive of your creative life is this way of living? And how often do you feel you're at the forefront of a new creative movement of a group of, er, one artist? Yourself.
It doesn't need to be like this.
When you reach out and find others who create, others who go through the same frustrations and creative breakthroughs, the same struggles and celebrations, it can have a profound impact on your own work.
Find your "Creative Tribe" and the mutual support and encouragement you receive from that creative community will help you create with a new confidence, and a fresh surge of motivation.
So what does your Creative Tribe look like? How do you find it? It helps to consider the two main parts to being in a Creative Tribe - giving and receiving: 1.
What do you have to give? Because you're creative yourself, you know the many feelings and experiences that go hand in hand with a life of creativity.
You know what it feels like to find a new artist and source of inspiration, or to be hit by a new creative idea while queuing in the supermarket.
You know what it's like to be sat staring at blank page, screen or canvas, wondering not WHERE the next idea will come from but IF IT WILL ever come.
You know the thrill of finishing a project you've thrown your heart and soul into.
You know the excitement of being fully in the flow of creating, losing track of time and space.
And you know what kind of support helps YOU be more creative.
All of these things mean you're in a wonderful position to help, encourage and nurture other people's creativity as part of a community.
All of them mean you'd be a valuable member of a Creative Tribe.
2.
What would you like to receive? When you're lying awake at night wondering if you'll ever finish that novel, or how you can continue to create in such isolation and secrecy, what would help you, what would make you feel like you're not alone? What kind of encouragement would enable you to be more creative, to keep your motivation high and the ideas flowing? How would it enhance your own creative work to share ideas and experiences with others who create? What added dimensions and richness would talking, sharing, even collaborating, bring to your creative work? How would it make you feel to know you're actually supporting the creative lives of others, helping them achieve their creative dreams as you pursue yours? All of these can be gained from being a part of a Creative Tribe, a community of like minded creative people.
True, often being alone is just what's needed to get focused and create as freely as you can, without distraction from anything and anyone.
This is great for when you're in the midst of creating.
But that's not all the time.
What do you do the rest of your time? Do you have sessions of creativity in which you become completely involved and lost in creating, then return to your "everyday" life, almost pretending that the time you just spent creating didn't even happen? Almost as if it's some secret alternative life that people would disapprove of? How helpful and supportive of your creative life is this way of living? And how often do you feel you're at the forefront of a new creative movement of a group of, er, one artist? Yourself.
It doesn't need to be like this.
When you reach out and find others who create, others who go through the same frustrations and creative breakthroughs, the same struggles and celebrations, it can have a profound impact on your own work.
Find your "Creative Tribe" and the mutual support and encouragement you receive from that creative community will help you create with a new confidence, and a fresh surge of motivation.
So what does your Creative Tribe look like? How do you find it? It helps to consider the two main parts to being in a Creative Tribe - giving and receiving: 1.
What do you have to give? Because you're creative yourself, you know the many feelings and experiences that go hand in hand with a life of creativity.
You know what it feels like to find a new artist and source of inspiration, or to be hit by a new creative idea while queuing in the supermarket.
You know what it's like to be sat staring at blank page, screen or canvas, wondering not WHERE the next idea will come from but IF IT WILL ever come.
You know the thrill of finishing a project you've thrown your heart and soul into.
You know the excitement of being fully in the flow of creating, losing track of time and space.
And you know what kind of support helps YOU be more creative.
All of these things mean you're in a wonderful position to help, encourage and nurture other people's creativity as part of a community.
All of them mean you'd be a valuable member of a Creative Tribe.
2.
What would you like to receive? When you're lying awake at night wondering if you'll ever finish that novel, or how you can continue to create in such isolation and secrecy, what would help you, what would make you feel like you're not alone? What kind of encouragement would enable you to be more creative, to keep your motivation high and the ideas flowing? How would it enhance your own creative work to share ideas and experiences with others who create? What added dimensions and richness would talking, sharing, even collaborating, bring to your creative work? How would it make you feel to know you're actually supporting the creative lives of others, helping them achieve their creative dreams as you pursue yours? All of these can be gained from being a part of a Creative Tribe, a community of like minded creative people.
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