I am in awe of good workout videos right now. Namely, I am in awe of anything that Jillian Michaels or Bob the Trainer put together. Their tough workouts require great self-disclipline from me. This discipline is seeping into my life as an artist as well. I can clearly hear Jillian in the Thirty Day Shred saying, “Push through. Come on, stick with it. This is fear leaving the body. It’s going to transcend into every other facet of your life. You don’t get this for free. You’ve gotta fight for it.”
You see, the thing about art that I was missing for so long is that I thought it was all spurred on by feel good inspiration. I write when I feel like writing. I paint when I feel like painting. I create when I feel like creating. Problem is, this mindset was keeping me from taking my art seriously. Many days art just wouldn’t happen at all. And if it did, it had no goal in mind, no end in sight. It was too loose, too spontaneous, too effortless.
Listen to this thought from Amena Brown:
“Despite the propaganda pushed by many artists, inspiration is not a spontaneous, effortless experience. Creativity is akin to discipline, a muscle that must be worked and stretched to prevent atrophy. Train your creative brain to know when and how to open up and be creative. Where can you go consistently and often to find your creative place?”
Taking last November and committing to write a novel forced me to find the value in consistent discipline. I think learning the consistent discipline was the actual purpose, not the novel itself.
Hard work is required.You’ve gotta fight for it. And every time you honor your own appointment with creating, you are watching fear leave your body. You are pushing through, sticking with it, fighting for it. This is how painted masterpieces and symphonies and novels are born. Peel back the finished product and you’ll find underneath a determined discipline as the skeleton holding everything together.
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Love this post Mandy….so true, so true!! There is hope for some of us then
this is so good…i find that forcing myself to create everyday and making time to create keeps me as balanced as seeking the Word daily. As for working out…Im headed in that direction. no more excuses! Im off to look at Jillians stuff, I keep hearing about it so it must be good.
I highly recommend The Thirty Day Shred.