TIR Grows Presents: Quote Reflections Series
Welcome Realmies,
Before We Begin
This week I found a prompt centered on my creative process. I wanted to challenge myself with a creative exercise that was reflective and contributed to creative growth.
The Prompt: What’s something your creativity is teaching you right now?
From that prompt, engaged in some free writing and landed on an idea, self-instruction that I hope will serve as inspiration, not only for myself in my writing process but also for you should it resonate.
The Quote
“Creativity is teaching me that whimsy and structure can coexist — and this chapter, they’re finally learning to ebb and flow.” – TIR Grows
Using this quote, let’s ask ourselves where we are and where we’d like to go and explore the journey together.
The Beginning
In processing the prompt, I had to go back a little bit and contemplate what struggles I have with creativity to understand what lessons I should be receiving.
In my brain, there is an ongoing epic battle between the whimsical imagination station creative center fairy and the organized process driven analytical brain overlord. I’ve often thought it must be one or the other. For one to exist and thrive the other has to be suppressed, quieted, or silenced to thrive.
Is there truly a battle or have I manifested one where none should exist?
The Journey
I ask, Does creativity have to be imprisoned by structure, organization and timelines? Is this an automatic see-saw, where creativity goes down when structure rises? What is the middle ground? How can we balance the see-saw?
We’ve come to the chapter in the story titled Symbiosis. Rather than continuing to force myself and my work into a stalemate, perhaps these two selves should play nice together. I’ve called a team meeting and instructed Creative Fairy and the Productivity Overlord to work as a team.
These are the Key Takeaways I learned from our team meeting.
Take the time to free think. Run wild with thought, messy processes, free writing sessions. The catch being, there is a cap on it. Don’t make the cap too restrictive or unrealistic. Employ your overlord to produce the data with which to decide on the limit. Ask yourself, when I am allowing my creative fairy to be free, how long does it take me to land on an idea, create a story, finish a project. It may look different depending on the creative topic. Design your limits based on your actual patterns. Then proceed to take that time to go through said process. Creative Fairy is happy and Productivity Overlord has the output in the predetermined timeline. It’s a win-win.
Give and take, ebb and flow. They’ll happily coexist in harmony, where once they thrashed around in the seas of anxiety, they themselves created. Onward we go, let’s see what progress is made while fostering freedom to grow in place with an idea.
Your Take
I invite you to take the same prompt (“What’s something your creativity is teaching you right now?”) and process it around your own creative struggles. Ask yourself if your current outlook is working for the destination you have set on your proverbial vision board. Is there room for improvement? I should like to think there is always room for improvement; however, what does that look like for you and your work?
Stay Connected
For more reflections on creativity, life-work balance, growth, and learning how to work with yourself instead of against yourself in the creative space, follow TIR Grows. Save this post for seasons when creativity feels stagnant and a supportive nudge will help you on your journey. Please share with someone navigating structure versus creative freedom right now.
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