Hello and welcome to design and business conversations for creatives. I'm Cheyney
and today I am going to chat to you about creative energy. I will be talking with you about how I
manage my creative energy and how I deal with the highs and the lows that come with this
enormous gift. If you're new to the channel, welcome. You may notice that I'm filming in a
different area of the house. I just thought I would try it out and I wanted to be kind
of comfortable for this content since this is a topic that is really close to my heart and
yeah! I think to speak about it honestly, and truthfully, and with all my being,
it's important that i'm comfortable, so here I am in my lounge. So, creative energy, what a topic! I
recently did an interview with Rachel from Frankly Write (which I'll link up above) where I asked her
a question and it was: "How do you define your creative energy?" and I think this is a really,
really, broad and interesting subject. I've been kind of thinking about this video for a while and
thinking how do I articulate it? How do I discuss it properly? And this is what I've come up with.
Creativity at its core is creating. I think that could be in any area. A lot of people
limit creativity just to the arts so things like music, and writing, and design, and art. I think
that everyone is creative and it can be used anywhere. Something that I've kind of heard my
whole life is: "You're so creative, you're so creative, you're so creative" and it's,
I mean, a huge compliment, thank you, but I really believe that everybody has
something in them to be creative. I think I might have discussed this before on this
channel but I'm someone who really deals with creative highs and lows,
meaning that when I get inspired to do something, I am like, all go! I obsess. I have to do it!
A really great early example of this in my lifetime is, my Mum often talks about it, I
used to sew my own clothes in primary school. One day I was just compelled to cut up a dress
and make it into a shirt and pant combo. It was horrendous! It was this floral dress with like,
real 70's-like blue with green ,white, and yellow flowers all over it and then I wanted to cut the
sleeves off and sew it onto a highlighter pink singlet (or tank top) and then I took a flower and
cut it out and appliqued it on the front. So, it's unique. I actually wore it to school too, go me!
I got in a hole, even at eight years old. I wanted to create something,
I put my mind to it and then it kind of came out of me, almost obsessively, like this urge.
My Mum always talks about how she was trying to offer me food and I didn't eat for eight hours, I
just had to get it done. So for me being creative and having creative energy has always been quite
obsessive, or compulsive almost, over the years this is how I've decided to describe it
anyway. I wanted to share with you a blog post I wrote about this because I thought
about making this video and I thought 'I'm sure I've written about this before?' and I want
to spend a lot of time and energy writing this blog post so what I'm going to do is I'll share
that but then I will elaborate on it further and where I've kind of come with this whole
enormous topic and subject since then and what I've learned since I wrote the blog post. So
excuse me, I have to look at it on my phone. So I wrote this 15th February, 2018 so, and now it is
October, 2020. So over two years ago. I had just written 'Thank you for feeding Freckle' which is
the book that I wrote and illustrated that recent recently has been published. I will pop some cards
up there so you can see. If you're interested, click into one of those. Back then it was called
'Feeding Neptune'. I find myself using the words creative energy more and more these days.
It's taken me 31 years to put a name to that spark of motivation that comes from nowhere.
I've been thinking about it a lot after my most recent holiday. For some reason,
in-between catch ups and trips to the beach, I had an urge to write and illustrate a children's
book. When I was on holiday? I take a look at my peer circles, and this is no ordinary compulsion.
I've narrowed it down to having a burst of creative energy. Energy to burn. In this post
I explain my understanding of creative energy and what I do with it. For anyone else that gets it,
this post is for you. Maybe you have it and you don't know what to call it?
Maybe you identify with what I'm saying and have some tips to share?
I wrote this post with a surge of creative energy that needed to be burned. If it doesn't
resonate with any of you. at least it is out of my system. haha. What creative energy means to me.
It borders on obsession. It's a surge of excess energy and a compulsion to create.
It's the driving force that urges me to cook, take photos, paint etc. It is a need to express.
It is the perfect partner for what we call a 'creative outlet'. I touch a little bit on
this in the post 'Creative Outlet Top 20 Images from my Personal Collection' (which is a link
that's clickable). All these images are from when I had plenty of creative energy (so that link just
links back to a post from when I had a surge of creative energy and was obviously very active
on my camera taking photos). So: When do I get it? When I'm relaxed. When I have a clear mind.
In nature - nature clears my mind and I'm so inspired by beautiful scenery.
When I have time to kill - Long flights, times when I have to wait (hospitals, airports etc.).
When I'm locked in a situation where I have not much else to do but think. So:
How do I harness it? When I have creative energy, I have learned that I have to use it.
Coffee can be helpful to get me through the surge, but not too much.
Too much coffee can send me into overdrive and my thoughts race ahead of what I can achieve.
When this happens, those nasty creative blockers (like self-doubt) can creep in. So coffee is a yes
but in small doses. I have to ration my creative energy. If I spend it all at once it can deplete
me. There have been times when I've stayed up all night working on a project. It's great because I
have to get it all out but it's not great when i'm exhausted for the week as a result. To spread the
energy load, I keep a notebook handy. I brainstorm ideas or sketch ideas and bank them for later.
So: How I get through periods of low creative energy? This is a big one because I am
self-employed and when I'm working on creative energy, it's really difficult if I have a deadline
and my creative energy is low. That was a side note, now I'll go back to reading it.
Working as a creative is difficult. I don't always have the need to create. It comes in waves and
when I'm not feeling it, trying to force it can be disastrous. The work I produce is lackluster and
it sends me into a tizzy. My mind starts to bully my abilities and this is not a good place to be.
I have learned to manage these low periods by doing the following: I complete non-creative
tasks. I have a to-do list and I mentally pat myself on the back after each is complete. This
allows me to focus on the creative tasks when I have a gust of creative energy. I clean. Cleaning
is a way for me to feel productive and clear my mind. Clear mind equals more creative energy. Now
this isn't for everyone because there's two camps of creatives, I find there's the really scattered
creative, and then the really organized creative, and I happen to sit in the organized creative
space. I exercise. This is my most effective method to get through the low season.
A good sweat session helps me to recollect. My mind focuses on the present and I'm sure the
pumping blood helps to rejuvenate all types of energy. And then it goes on to say: 'does this
post resonate with you? I would love to hear your thoughts if you have ways to harness your creative
energy or ways to get through the low times, I would love to hear from you, Cheyney xx" When
I read that I was, it's kind of one of those things where I read it back and I was like, Oh,
go Cheyney. You know I surprise myself and I think that's also indicative of having a creative high
is I kind of get things out while they're on my mind and I tend to be able to articulate
myself really well and then when I look back I'm almost impressed, or like, did that come from
me? It's really important for me when I have creative energy to use it. Now, I said that I
was gonna elaborate on that post from what I've learned going forward and I will do that now. So
another couple of tips that I have for when my creative energy is low: Sometimes the swings
can be quite high, and quite low, and I think it also ties in with my mood definitely if you're a
woman this might resonate, but during certain times of the month my emotions can be quite
different so another thing that I do to help balance my creative energy, and get through those
creative lows, and pick myself up a little bit is: Music! Absolutely! Like, I can't even believe
I didn't mention it in that post. I am such a huge fan of music. I always have been and
listening to music can really help me get into a zone to be creative. Now, the next thing is: Yoga
and breathing. I would also include meditation in that, by the way. This is something that I
have included more since I wrote that article, that's something that i've gotten more into. So,
i am a huge fan of 'Yoga with Adrienne'. She does boot camp, so I can set aside a certain amount
of time a day and commit to a 30-day program to be still, and to be present, and to be mindful,
and set myself up for some good creative energy. I touched on it lightly in the blog post as well
but: Nature is a huge inspiration for me. So my intention of this video was to kind of share my
thoughts in this space. I would love to hear your thoughts. If you comment below and let me know
what creative energy is for you. What do you view it to be? How do you manage your creative highs
and lows? Particularly in a business sense, or in a work environment. Say you're a creative working
for an agency, how do you go to work and produce your best creations when you're not feeling it?
This is something that I love about being self-employed, I am able to actually control
when I work and really make good use of the creative highs and rest during the creative
lows. Pushing through a creative low is tough. If you've experienced that, it's totally normal,
I feel you. I think that is a natural part of the process of being creative, and being a creator,
and being a creative entrepreneur. I will link in the comments below the link to that specific
blog post that I just shared. If you like this content please check out some of my other content.
This is a creative outlet for me. YouTube has been a massive creative outlet and I, another thing I
think about creativity is: The more you use it, the more it comes. It's never going to run out.
It's an infinite source. I have many a creative outlet. To name a few there's photography,
painting, drawing, singing (although I do that quite privately), uh, writing poetry (which I also
do very privately), digital drawing, marketing (I think marketing is flexing my creative muscles),
uh, design obviously, packaging, all of that, and yeah, most recently, creating these videos.
Having an urge to do something and following it and managing creative energy doing it when I'm
feeling inspired to, and not pushing it when I'm not. I would love to hear your thoughts. If I ask
you one question to answer in the comments: How do you define your creativity? Maybe you don't,
and that's okay. If you would like to see further videos on this topic let me know.
Ask me some questions. I would love to do a video where I answer some questions, that means that I'm
providing content that you, the viewer enjoys, and there's purpose and I'm not actually just
spouting off what I feel, which is what I'm doing now, which is great too, but if I can be helpful,
or valuable to you, that would make me very happy. Thank you for watching. If you like this
video please give it a thumbs up, subscribe using the button below, and I will see you next time,
bye.