As an artist, sometimes I get blocked. Ideas just won’t come. Or I can’t seem to draw or paint. Or, I finish what you think is a great piece, but, looking at it again: I hate it.
There are all kinds of reasons for dry seasons as an artist. For me, it has been stress, too much on my mind, forcing an image instead of ‘clean-creating’ from my heart, or just tiredness. In school, they told us, when we were blocked, to put a piece of paper, canvas, or other substrate in front of us and do something. I have found it’s the same for writing: pull up a page and write about something.
Because this too shall pass.
Of course, sometimes, you really do have to walk away for a bit, even if there is a deadline. A different point of view can clear your mind and even trigger ideas.
All of us, including artists, are dealing with the added pressure of a world still clamped down on normalcy. There’s no such thing as a ‘new normal’, and many people are pressed down by the shadow of the unknown that seems to be hanging over the earth right now.
But even this too will pass.
I find that whenever I look at ‘the big picture’, I start getting stressed, depressed…blocked. It’s why I no longer watch the news. I hear about all of the ‘important’ stuff eventually, and not a lot of it is important. But I know the One who holds the future, and I know He is faithful.
‘You will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on You because he trusts in You.’ – Isaiah 26:3.
This scripture has given me so much peace. I meditate on it…and then I do something. I still have art to make and an art business to run. Pain fades, and fear turns out many times, to be unfounded. I don’t feel the pain of a broken heart from 10 years ago, or the pain of betrayal even from last month. There’s a line from the movie The Crow that says ‘It can’t rain all the time.’ It’s a modern echo of the scriptural: ‘and it came to pass’.
This weird time in our history will change. And then there will come another weird time, whether it’s in our personal lives or our country. Having your resiliency toolbox in order before the storm is essential, just like preparedness items. Regularly reading scripture; having good, solid trustworthy friends you can talk to; keeping fit; cutting off the media for a while periodically, all of these things can help keep your blood pressure down and your soul in peace.
And then chase your purpose: the reason you were put on this earth. For me, it’s making art and writing stories. Because someone else may be waiting for you to do or make or be what blesses their lives and helps them to have hope.
There’s still love and adventure in the world. Take heart. Trust God.
