BEGIN AGAIN 1.1 - Tips for (re)Starting Your Creative Practice

why it can feel so hard to start, and doing it anyway

Creative Readers & Makers, this post is part of a short series about beginning a personal creative practice again, to hold myself accountable to my own creative process, and offer a bit of encouragement and perspective that might be helpful for yours. I’ve decided I’ll keep the posts with tips and thoughts for you, like this one, separate from the posts about my own personal process - in an effort to keep us both focused on our own makings, but to also provide an example from my own often-awkward process for those who enjoy or find it helpful.
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Getting Started is the Hardest Part

At least it sure seems that way if you’ve been in a rut or out of practice for awhile - or if you’re starting something new altogether.

If (re)starting your creative practice feels disproportionately hard for something that’s supposed to be enjoyable, it helps to remember why starting something we want to do can be so damn hard to begin with.

Usually, I find, this initial procrastination is about one of a few things: the self-induced pressure of perfectionism, some sort of fear (of ‘failure’ or otherwise, in the practice itself or in other areas of life because you choose to spend time on your practice), or it can even be about a general lack of motivation.

There can be a lot to stay curious about and unpack in those topics, but for the purposes of our Begin Again exploration, our focus is going to be more about just doing it anyway.

Below, I’ll cover a few considerations that may help with perspective and focus, and then your part is to Just Begin.

That is: Begin, Notice what comes up, Tweak your approach as needed, and then Repeat until you find your curiosity and natural flow with your current process and intention.

We begin without a clear and precise plan because it is action, movement, and engagement with our creative side that shows us who we are today, and what expressions are true to where we are now. Once our creative side is allowed to come out and play, which only happens after we actually start doing the thing, the spark is lit and it gets easier to keep going.

So here are a few thoughts I have that might be helpful as you get going with your own creative practice re-start…

To Begin your Creative Practice (again):

1. know your why - and keep it simple and fluid

2. remember that less is better than more when it comes to your resources and materials at this point

3. lower your expectations, turn on the music (or quiet) - or stretch or otherwise center in ways that work for you, and just begin making marks or movements, even if it feels all fumbly at first

Let’s expand on these just a bit.

1 :: KNOW YOUR WHY, but keep it simple and fluid

OK, I don’t actually think you have to have some thesis, big purpose, or something about why you want to make or create to justify that what you want to do, try, explore, express, or otherwise claim as worthy of how you spend your time.

That you want to make, create, express is a gift that thrives in its own mystery and pursuit.

What I mean about knowing your why is more practical here. It can simply be helpful to actually name what you’ve been curious to explore or try in your personal practice in a specific way.

This is espeically helpful when you don’t know where or how to start, and that blank page (or equivalent) seems to just be haunting or taunting you.

Is there a supply, or idea you’ve been carrying but haven’t physically tried out yet?

Can you sketch it out, jot it down, swatch colors, or give it a no-pressure test run this week, to get your practice jump-started? No need to ‘finish’ anything - just play with moving closer to realizing the idea through an expression.

Or, maybe there’s a skill you want to learn or practice. Like sketching hands, or painting flowers with different brushes, or a new stitch in your fiber work. This can be one of the easiest doorways into a daily practice: identify a skill that interests you, and give it 15 minutes of focus a day for a month. Better understanding of your materials, what it takes, and what you envision, not to mention improvement, are the unavoidable byproducts of this kind of practice intention.

OR, maybe you are hungry for your creative practice to provide a sort of respite or ease, or an escape or relief from the rest of life right now. This is a perfectly natural and often healing desire from our creative side, and if this is your why - trust it, and choose an approach to your practice that honors it.

So, consider what your ‘why’ might be for the next few weeks in your creative practice: Is it to explore or play with an idea or supply you have, to practice a skill intentionally, or to relax, enjoy yourself, and/or forget the rest of the world for a little while? Or something else altogether?

The next two considerations will help you keep your ‘why’ simple and fluid, too.

2 :: LESS IS BETTER THAN MORE, in materials and resources

Obviously, to get started you need to gather your making materials and supplies - but first, I want you to also consider the resource of your TIME.

Time is the number one barrier to keeping our creative practice going - I’ve learned this in my own practice, and from hundreds of creatives who have worked with me over the years.

Sometimes this barrier of not having enough time is more perceived than real. However, time IS finite, and some seasons of life are simply filled with other obligations and focus, it’s true.

So I suggest that intentionally starting with less of a time commitment just might be better for your situation. This is 100% personally contextual to your life needs and energy - so take a few moments to consider what time you want to give, and then go ahead and commit to a little less.

For instance, this time around, I’m just shooting for 15-20 minutes in my creative practice most days. I know I can give that - and I know I’ll likely give a bit more time once I get going on days that I’m able to as well. Keeping the time commitment realistic and do-able keeps me from getting down on myself and quitting altogether if I don’t meet my enthusiastic ideals about how my art practice time and productivity should or could look.

Knowing the amount of time you have to give can help you make intentional choices about the materials you’ll start with, too.

It is so much easier to begin (again) with limited choices, and only one or two supplies to go with.

Start with what you have now (no need to order anything new). You can add more later, as your creative flow picks up and inspiration strikes.

Ideas? Maybe you’ll choose to go with one pen and sketchbook - perfect. A small watercolor set and your favorite colored pencil - that’s all you need. A small envelope of collage fodder and a glue stick - perfect. Limit your palette and see what surprises you.

Don’t fret too much about putting these kind of limitations on yourself as you get going. Limitations are often the birthplace of spontaneous creativity, curiosity and motivation - and will lead you very naturally into recognizing your own creative rhythm, needs and vision for your practice.

Once you have your inital WHY and a few materials, the only thing left to do is put any expectatoins on hold and just get started…

3 :: JUST BEGIN, with a little bit of centering + grace

If you carry any tendency toward of perfectionism, it can help to intentionally lower any expectations that might be sneaking into your ideas about how your practice should look or feel before starting.

To support that, remember to be discerning about looking at the creative works of other makers, online especially. I love being on social media as little as possible and find this helps me stay true to my creative energy and rhythm in my ow many facets of life.

Give yourself permission to be a beginner, to not make anything ‘good,’ even if you’ve done this before. Let go of any ideas of making “art,” or making something to show or share, and just get curious about your materials or idea, and how making makes you feel, for awhile.

I like to mark the beginning of a creative practice session with some sort of short, centering activity, posture, or ‘ritual’ to transition my mind and focus into creative curiosity and presence. This might be a few deep breaths, some stretching, a short walk, a special cup of tea, or putting on some music to help create a sensory bubble in the room I’m in.

What small things help you re-center in your body, clear your head, and bring your attention back into the present moment? Try one or more of these before beginning your daily practice - it can really make a difference in how we connect to our creative flow and whether or not we feel motivated to return the next day.

Finally, beginning a creative practice (again) can take more than one start to find the right flow and fit for your life in this season and chapter.

If you find it feeling fumbly, awkward, not quite right… or if what used to work well for you in your approach is no longer working, and you are hungry for something different, somehow, even if you don’t know how yet, take pause and have grace for your process.

False starts happen, and while it’s not ideal, it’s good information for cultivating a creative practice that has meaning, joy and connection for your creartive side in the life you are living now.

So, if you are also shooting for a daily(-ish) practice to explore over time, notice and name how you’re feeling at different points in the process of beginning.

In those first few days and sessions, ask yourself:

How do I feel before I practice, while I’m in creating/making mode, and then after a creative practice session? Is my approach feeling too loose or rigid for what I need to move closer to how I want to feel?

Are my materials working for me how I imagined? Has a different craving or curiosity surfaced that feels more exciting or interesting to me right now?

Maybe most importantly, has my desire to return to my practice begun to naturally amp up? Is it beginning to offer me the joy, materialization, curiosity, expression, sense of challenge, escape or peacefulness I am seeking and needing from the time spent making and creating right now?

If not, then it is time to tweak materials, shift perspectives or limitations, scrap the original intention or re-shape it, and then at your next practice session, with those changes in place, begin again - gently or with gusto, whichever feels most alive for you.

While I love the “Begin the Way You Wish to Continue” idea in theory, I’ve found it can take a few tries to land on the right combination of materials, intentions and routines when restarting or refreshing my creative practice - and this time has been no different for me.

I’ll share more about my own personal creative practice re-start process soon - it’s felt clunky this week, but I moved through it and now it’s taking shape in a way that feels good.

Happy Creating!