Creatives’ Workshop: Keeping balance (and not boiling over)

Stress is an unfortunate by-product of the creative process and one we should try to keep on top of. This time, our curly-haired creative looks at ways to maintain the inner balance ⚖️

Boiling over can really affect the headspace in a negative way. so I’ve put together some tips on how to keep things balanced while working.

It’s worth noting that this isn’t a one-size-fits-all kinda thing. Everyone’s different, so find what works best for you.

Quite an important one is to take regular breaks and to not feel guilty about taking time away, so you can come back and be more productive.

It’s like if a problem was taking you three hours to solve; if you just take a break, let yourself reset, you can come back, be more effective and probably solve it in less than that. Boom.

Or take a nap. I do that. 15 minutes in the afternoon works wonders! Or just go for a walk. Get the f**k out of the office…

If you’re finding yourself stuck on one big task, come up for air. I find it’s good to turn your focus to something else, because even if you’re doing something menial, your brain will still be ticking over in the background trying to think of that idea and at some point it’ll hit.

Now, I use external brains all the time. These can be friends, colleagues, people that you respect the opinion of. If you’ve got an idea and you just want to make sure it makes sense, throw it at someone, and you never know—they might actually come up with something you’d never thought of.

Stop drinking so much f**king coffee! It’s really not good for you. It gives you anxiety, makes you feel shit. Your body has needs and it might need things like fresh air and water…

People can’t read your mind. I wish they could, but they can’t, so the more you can do to help people understand where your head is at, the better. They might think you’re just being a dick. They don’t know what you’re dealing with, so unless you tell them, they don’t f**king know!

Now, I know there’s moments when you’ve poured your heart and soul into this project. You’ve given everything to get it over the line, and then someone comes back with some feedback, some notes…

And it feels like someone’s ripping your heart out, like it’s an attack on you personally and your ability. It’s definitely not. I know it’s easy to think that, but they’re just doing their job. Take a deep breath Step back. Just give it a moment. It’s a necessary evil and the more we can do to just calm ourselves down when that happens, the better.

So yeah, being a creative can be stressful at times, but I hoped this helped you somewhat. That’s enough from me, now f**k off and be creative.