STOP Creating Only When You “Feel” Inspired

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While making my bed the other morning, a profound thought occurred to me:

Why do I only feel motivated to create when I’m happy and “feel like” doing it?

It was the butt-crack of dawn, my body sluggishly shuffling about, tidying in the dark, and I thought about the joy I experienced last week in starting a new DIY project.

You see, I had spent much of the day in my “she shed” watching a class on SkillShare called Design and Build Your Own Chair (it’s for an upcoming sponsored project). As I navigated the video clips, my joy became palpable as I realized how cool and easy (and fun!) it would be to build this modern chair from only 4 pieces of plywood. (Finally!!–A project for which those big ‘ole scraps in the garage would get used!).

I was excited to dust off my track saw and jigsaw to cut out the pieces…and maybe even laser engrave a cool design on the wood. Or maybe a pretty paint and stencil. Oh–and custom upholstered pillows! The possibilities had me salivating.

This modern chair build felt like a lighthouse in a tumultuous ocean full of waves of creative burnout that I feel like I have been suffering from.

(This was the cool modular chair I would be building from the tutorial–no glue, no nails!):

My joy was mounting. For the first time in what felt like a long time, I was really excited to create and couldn’t wait to jump into the project after consuming the tutorials and making that mock-up using SketchUp (a free modeling software).

In fact, I was so excited about this project, that I pushed RECORD and shared it with you on YouTube, in this brief, but fun clip, as I was digging into the video lessons:

That morning as I made my bed, despite being tired from staying up late reading (a thick beast-of-a-book, a whopping 800+ pages, by Stephen King called 11/22/63), my joy is what moved me to get up early; I couldn’t wait to start working on that chair!

It was while I was fluffing the pillows did the image of Michael Jordan float through my mind.

While I played basketball throughout middle and high school, I wasn’t necessarily a professional basketball fan. But there was something that always struck me about this idea of Michael Jordan “showing up” for greatness even when he didn’t “feel” like it.

Someone once said, to become great (and much will claim, the greatest), Jordan had to consistently show up, even when he didn’t feel like hitting the gym for morning workouts. His training schedule wasn’t built on his feelings about showing up–he showed up no matter what.

He didn’t wait for the adrenaline of the games to “love” his job; he “loved” his job through the boring parts, the tough parts; the parts that required him to sacrifice. He kept showing up no matter what.

His successful career (and really, the success of anyone) meant that they must show up for the boring parts and the exciting parts. They didn’t just focus on the highlights, but they focused on the gritty work that needed to get done when no one was looking.

So as I was tidying up my bed, mulling over how wonderful it was to delve into this project, and how excited I was to get started on making this chair, I realized this:

My joy shouldn’t dictate whether I show up and create every day.

Creating Started to Feel Exhausting

You see…this was the first time in a long time that creating felt exciting, instead of exhausting.

You heard that right: creating started to feel exhausting.

I’ve written previously about creative spark and how social media on killing creativity when you’re constantly feeling like it’s “YOU vs ALGGIE” (aka: algorithm) going toe-to-toe in 9 rounds of a heavy-weight battle.

And I felt like I was losing, repeatedly getting punched in the face, knocked down, slammed against the ropes.

You might be surprised to know that I was >thisclose< to not just getting knocked down, but staying down. I felt like someone needed to come drag my butt out of the ring altogether.

(Okay, enough boxing references; I digress).

But it’s true.

I wasn’t feeling great about the status of blogging, creating, YouTubing, to the point that I was on the verge of vowing to find a 9-to-5 job again, just so I wouldn’t have to continue to get beat down by the algorithm, dwindling ad revenue, lack of sponsorship, and just an overall “meh” feeling about life in general, not just my career.

(And let’s be clear–I may still have to one day get a 9-to-5–I’m not naive about the blowback that AI–artificial intelligence–is having on content creators. That’s a whole ‘nutha topic…).

So to feel my joy came flooding back last week like someone opened a levee, you have no idea how good that felt!

It was exciting–like a writer whose fingers start stroking the keyboard at lightening speeds, free from Writer’s Block.

There was no hesitation or procrastination. I felt like the “old” Serena was emerging, ready to tackle a project that would spark all kinds of creative juices, and I was ready for those juices to overflow my cup!

As I woke early that morning, eager to start my day, thinking about that joy, and thinking of Michael Jordan’s tenacity, the lesson became clear as the sun that was about to rise:

Joy should not be the predictor of whether we show up for ourselves every day.

Showing Up No Matter What

Look….depression is real. And I would not call what I am going through “depression.” I have a positive outlook, in general, about my life. In fact, I think what I am going through is classic “mid-life bites.” I’m questioning everything about my life right now, seeing that I have more years behind me than in front of me now that I’m turning 48 next month.

Deep depression makes it hard to get out of bed each day; mild or moderate depression allows you to get out of bed, but for those people, their world may be colored in gray.

My world is, and always has been, full of color. Sometimes that color is a bit muted; other times, vibrant and in full bloom, like it was last week.

But the crux of my epiphany that morning was that I can’t just show up when the color is vibrant and in full bloom.

In fact, this epiphany makes sense for any part of life:

• We can’t just “show up” when I get a big puff of joy to carry us along to our next project.
• We can’t just “show up” when desire strikes to go for a walk.
• We can’t just “show up” when someone is a relationship or friendship is moving along without friction.
• We can’t just “show up” when things are going our way.

But How Do You Know When It’s Really Time to Move On?

As I moved from the bedroom to the kitchen to make some hot water with lemon to start my day, I had another thought:

So if you can’t just use “joy” and “procrastination” or “boredom” or “lack of interest” to gauge how much you show up for something, how do you really know when it’s time to move on from something….or if you just need a “pause” to catch your breath?

(I am so fascinated with this idea, so stay with me, because I feel like I’m on the cusp of a big breakthrough here…)

I’m realizing that the only way to know whether something is worth sticking with it is if you fully committed to it from the beginning, consistently showing up, no matter what your feelings are.

Let me say that again, in another way, for myself and for you:

When you hone your skill enough, by repeatedly showing up no matter whether you felt like it or not, and not matter what external factor is trying to influence you, you’re more likely to know whether something is worth pursuing.

You’ll know if you’re in a “pause” phase or a “I just need to walk away” phase.

People who haven’t been showing up will allow any wind to blow them this way….or that way….depending on how they “feel” and on whatever trend is popular at the time…or whatever algorithm update is trying to dictate how they’ll perform on any given day.

When you don’t show up for yourself consistently, you strip away whatever confidence you have at knowing what you really want and why you want it.

I stopped consistently showing up for my own creativity because I allowed too many external factors to sway when and how I showed up–to the point that, when I wasn’t feeling the joy, I mistakenly thought:

“You’re toast, girlfriend. Just go hang up your tools once and for all–you suck.”

But what I realized the other morning is that I stopped listening to my own internal voice that pointed out:

• The joy of creating still lives inside of me.
• I have to keep showing up even on days when joy feels elusive.
• I need to create the habit of creating, instead of waiting for inspiration.

What Stephen King Taught Me About Discipline

It’s ironic that I am reading Stephen King’s novel called 11/22/63. It’s about a time traveler who travels from 2011 back into the 50’s and 60’s to try to prevent JKF’s assassination. It’s a great novel!

But I feel like it’s kismet that I am thinking about “creating” and “joy” and “inspiration” right now, when Stephen King himself is a teacher of the art of discipline: he literally writes daily, no matter what.

He doesn’t wait for inspiration to strike. He doesn’t take a day off for his birthday or holidays. He writes daily. And it’s that consistency that has made him such a successful author with over 70 novels (fiction and non-fiction), and over 200 short stories.

Honing My Craft

So is that what it’s going to take for me to hone my craft of creativity, too?

Do I need to show up daily, paint brush or power tool in hand, even on days when I feel no spark; days when there are any number of excuses that seem like good reasons, but are really just excuses?

Do I need to step out of the ring with ALGGIE (aka social media algorithm) and calmly give him the middle finger?

Do I need to create the habit, too, that at least 2 hours per day, no matter what, is dedicated to doing something creative?

In fact, I have been leaning into laser engraving and creating prototypes of these fun hammer earrings I created on my xTool laser engraver. This has also been a place of joy lately as I push myself further with learning new tools and software.

You Have to Know Your “Why”

I think Michael Jordan knew what his “why” was: he wanted to be the greatest. And because greatness was his goal, his reason for going to practice even when he didn’t “feel” like it, he allowed his “why” to lead the way.

I walk daily, usually 3-6 miles. It’s become so engrained in who I am that there’s typically no question about whether it will happen–doesn’t matter that it’s raining, windy, hot, cold. I just go. I don’t even have to think about it or to talk myself out of it.

Why, you ask?

Because my “why” is bigger than my desire to sit. My “why” isn’t dependent on anything other than aging well. I want to be the 75 year old woman who can still move like a fit 40 year old.

And the only way to get there, and stay there, is through daily exercise (and, of course, eating right, but that’s a whole ‘nutha blog post!)

I think the reason why I allowed external factors to affect my creativity is because I forgot my “why.”

When I started Thrift Diving, my “why” was about creating (I have been creative my entire life), but we had a house that needed decorating and we couldn’t afford to do it without thrift stores. It became the perfect marriage between creating and necessity. (You can listen to my podcast, Episode #1, The Story of Thrift Diving).

Over the years, Thrift Diving became a business, earning money through my creativity, getting brand sponsorship, and more. Over the years, while I still love creating, it started to feel like…..work.

The joy of creative play was elusive. There was no time for that. Layered with changes to Google, social media platforms, and suddenly, we content creators felt the shift of creating content “for” Google…”for” Instagram….”for” Youtube.

It slowly stopped being about creating content “for” you, dear reader.

It slowly stopped being about creating content “for” myself.

I stopped feeling like I was creatively “playing.” In fact, I felt guilty for taking any kind of creative detour that wouldn’t net an income or be “productive” enough.

I stopped leaning into the things I wanted to talk about and create, for worry that they wouldn’t be popular enough or be “off brand.”

So the days in between projects became longer…more spaced out…as I struggled to find joy in what I really wanted to create.

I forgot that my “why” has always been: CREATE, INSPIRE, and TEACH.

Finding Creative Motivation Every Day

That recent morning when I reflected on the sense of joy bubbling over as I learned how to make that modern chair, and as I write this post to you now, I know what this next chapter of my creative life is called:

PLAYFUL DISCIPLINE

I have to show up for myself every day with creative play–even days I don’t feel like it. That is how I hone my creativity, my skills, my craft. As I learn and play, I bring that joy and playfulness to you, which then inspires you to do your own projects.

Stephen King writes 6 pages a day, as told to Game of Thrones author George RR Martin in this clip.

And Michael Jordan once said: “I don’t compete with other people. I compete with what I’m capable of.” (See clip below)

I’m capable of so much more than what I have been doing. But I am only going to know my full capabilities if I show up every day, no matter the external or internal factor.

I’m inquisitive, love to learn new skills, new tips, new tools, new techniques. I love to challenge myself, doing projects I have never tried before (like when I built my walk-in closet from scratch–now that was challenging and so rewarding!).

What’s YOUR Non-Negotiables?

I don’t know if any of this inspired you, but it was cathartic for me to write about. And it’s inspiring me to think about what my creative non-negotiables will be moving forward. I’m going to challenge you to think about yours, too.

For me, my non-negotiables are to:

• Create 2 hours every day, even if there feels like there’s no inspiration (maybe working my way up to Stephen King’s 3-4 hours daily, no matter what).
• Create a schedule based on what works for me and not what some algorithm is telling me I should do.
• Finish my EmPOWER Tools 101 course! (Sign up here to join the wait list). I have the table saw video done, but I still need to film the other tools tutorials. I swear I’m going to get this done.
• Make room for creative moments of joy, and continue to share them with the world, without caring how many “clicks” or “views” it gets; if it makes me happy, that’s the most important.
• Invest time in learning new skills and tools. I’m fascinated with laser engraving on my xTool, 3D printing, and CNC routing. I also want to learn to use Adobe Illustrator. I’d like to create an online store and sell some of the things I make! More on that coming soon…

Thanks for sticking with me through all of that. Wow….not only do I talk a lot, but I write a lot, too. HA!

If anything resonated for you, I’d love to hear your thoughts below!

Do you tend to show up only when you “feel like” it, too? What are YOU going to do differently going forward? Subscribe to my email list so we can help motivate each other!

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