In a Creative Rut? Here's how to get out

In a Creative Rut? Here's how to get out

Do you feel like you’re in a bit of a creative rut? Or maybe a creative canyon?


I’ve been there. Many times. You feel restless, a bit hollow, aimless. You’re not sure where to start or what you’re even interested in. 


If you’re feeling this way, I want you to know that this is completely normal and all a part of living a creative life. This often comes when our creativity has either been in disuse for so long or it can come when we’ve completed a different creative project that was all-consuming. 


I was feeling this way earlier this year. I felt scattered, aimless, uninspired.


I wanted to feel creatively fulfilled and feel that excitement and spark and passion that you feel when you’re in that creative flow. But I didn’t know where to start or what I was even passionate about. 

So I decided to follow the advice Elizabeth Gilbert offers in her breathtaking book, Big Magic

 

She says when you're feeling this way, instead of worrying about your passion-- instead, follow your curiosity.


What are you curious about right now?


Even if it is outside the quilting world. Are you wanting to plant a garden? Start baking more? Try a particular quilting technique? Learn to dye your own fabric? 


Let’s start with what you’re curious about and go from there. I think your curiosity is your inner artist nudging you in the right direction. Give yourself the space and permission to follow it, even if it feels like you’re going down a rabbit hole. 


I’d also like to address something else that happened to me that some of you might be experiencing. There might be this thing that you’ve always wanted to do-- a passion that you’ve had for a long time but that completely terrifies you. 


Maybe you’ve always wanted to write a children's book or learn to paint or try art quilting. But the vulnerability required to give it a go when what you create could be terrible-- is paralyzing. 


Maybe you haven’t even told anyone about it or haven’t even admitted it to yourself out loud. It felt way too audacious. Who do you think you are to do something like that!?


So instead of going after that thing, you have kept it buried deep within you, you seek ancillary creative projects. Hobbies and projects that live on the outskirts of what you REALLY want to be doing. 

 


Steven Pressfield in his fantastic book, The War of Art, introduces the phenomenon of what he calls “resistance”. Resistance is sneaky and clever and presents itself whenever you’re about to do something creative. 


And it appears completely reasonable.


It might look like, you start pulling fabric for a new project and you realize the laundry really needs to be done, or "you know what, I think I should reorganize my stash first."

It’s that contraction you feel in your chest when you start thinking about a new creative challenge.


It says, “you know what, that is beyond what you’re capable of right now, let’s choose something easier instead” or “you just don’t have the time right now” or “maybe sometime in the future, now isn’t the right time…”


Resistance sounds perfectly reasonable but will always try to stand in your way of doing what really lights you up.


Diving deep inside of you in your creative work is scary and requires vulnerability and risk and courage. Resistance is that primitive part of your brain that sees a lion lurking around every corner and wants to keep you safe. It’s not resistance’s fault. You know what another name resistance goes by? Fear. 

 


In a creative life, fear will always be present because the act of creation requires so much bravery. And that’s okay. We can allow fear to be there and have her say, say all the scary and reasonable and distracting things, and we can pat her on the head and say, “thank you, dear, for your input. No lions are around here. I’m not going to die from sketching a tree, I appreciate your concern, but I’m going to carry on now.”


No need to try to vanquish your fear or that feeling of resistance. Let it be there and hang out with you while you’re doing your creative thing, and just treat it like a puppy who is vying for your attention and wants to chase the ball or have a treat or go outside, or bark at your neighbors who are walking by your window. “Everything is going to be fine, Sally, you can hang out here with me, but I’m going to do my own thing. We’ll go on a walk later.”


When you’re in a creative rut, it is easy to feel like you’re just no longer creative.


Maybe you felt creative when you were younger, but that’s all dried up now. 


I promise you it is not. 


We as humans are inherently creative beings-- look at what we’ve created and built over the years -- SO MUCH! Skyscrapers, electric lighting, the iPhone, the Mona Lisa, agriculture, post-its, language, ballet, cheeseburgers...


It’s baked into our DNA to create things. 


Creativity is a muscle that might stiffen up after disuse, but can always become strong again, with the slow, gentle working of it. 


Be gentle with yourself and your creativity. Let it be light and playful. 

 


What are you curious about right now?

Is there something deep within you that you’ve always wanted to do?

Whichever question you answer, begin there. 


We cannot wait to see what you’re going to create.


I'd love to hear from you. Have you ever felt (or currently feel) in a creative rut? What has helped? What stood out to you the most in this article? Leave a comment below! 

 

If you're interested in being a part of an international creative community where you'd explore different quilt-making styles from around the world, I think you'd love The Meander Guild. Learn more about it, here.

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19 comments

YES to all of it!!!!!

When I was younger I was fearless and tried to do anything that interested me. I did not know failure. Now, I am so much more cautious. I afraid it will not be perfect, it will not look good, I will ruin the supplies needed to create. A project is overwhelming.

When o realized what is happening to me I try to break it down into manageable pieces and make practice pieces. Right now I am trying to quilt more of my completed quilts. At this time I am learning to deal with all the bulk of the quilt and I have done simple straight or curvy line quilting. I have used the quilting rulers but only in quilt as you go quilts. I participated in three quilt alongs this Spring/Summer. I am using them to use my rulers and some straight line quilting designs on each of the blocks o am in the design phase now of my first quilt (40 blocks). My sewing machine is out for yearly maintenance and I have a quilt for one of my grandsons queued up when it returns so I am drawing designs on paper. My blocks are 12” finished but the blocks I am drawing designs on are 6”. When I use the rulers, I make the blocks actual size for placement. As I work through this design phase, I am getting more excited about quilting the blocks on my quilt. Also it has really helped that this quilt is for no one in particular so if it does not turn out as expected, it has only been practice.

I still freeze up just thinking about FMQ and I am hoping that taking these baby steps towards quilting my quilts will give me confidence to try it free hand (I am far from an artist).

I love what you do with the scrappy appliqué and have paid for access to your appliqué library. I have not done much with it and I hope to work on some projects when my request list gets shorter.

Thank you for the inspiring article. I just love your enthusiasm! It is contagious!

Wishing you a lovely day!

Linda Jesse

Creative rut! Oh yes! My hobby has become my job and it’s hard to have fun doing it. So I’m going to try ice dying some fabric. I have been wanting to do this but no time. So I put it on my calendar and the other girls and I are going to do it at the shop at the end of the month. They are excited as well to learn something new. Creating teamwork, having fun and learning something new. That outta get me out of a rut.

Kat Kelley

Wow! You hit the nail right on the head! Thank you so much for writing on this particular subject. I have many creative endeavors I have wanted to undertake, but I have resisted by doing housework, and reading, researching, and watching videos about the thing I want to do. I just need to dive in!

Susan

It took me about 6 months to design/piece and quilt a dog quilt for my sister. It hung on the design wall forever while I worked on other projects but would think and see it every day trying to decide what to add to the panels, borders, etc. Well, just completed it today. There are a few things that I wish were a little better but all in all that’s okay. I know my sister will love it!

Phyllis A Arnold

Wow! That was so good! Some very wise words! Thank you for sharing them with us all.
I think sometimes a rut can happen when we get bogged down with what we’re doing and it loses it sparkle… I know I stopped sewing for a time because I decided I wasn’t doing any new work until I finished a bunch of WIP… but all that did was block me up even further! In the end I needed new projects to inspire me, and then it turned out some of my WIP needed extra things that I didn’t yet have the skill for at the time. But by feeding my creativity I learnt extra skills that’s allowed me to return to those old projects invigorated! Sometimes creativity looks like marinating! ♥️♥️♥️

Sharon Marley

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