Space

Show Notes

Transcript

So I heard a story about a guy called Jack
Jack sojourns for the winter
to act as a caretaker for a remote Colorado hotel
he did this to relieve his writer’s block
Which he kinda achieved
Since he ends up having a breakdown and attempting to axe-murder his family
OK, so that’s clearly the plot of The Shining
But it helps set the scene for a conversation I want to have around finding space in your life to be creative
real life and literature is replete with tales of escape and transcendence
It’s hard in the busy modern world to find the space to be creative
Secluded getaways are tempting, and may even not result in murder
And you may have temporarily have released yourself of the murder of daily drudgery
And improved your mental wellness in the process
but life always comes rushing back in
For the value of art and creativity to be truly transformative,
you have to find some space in your life
that is permanent
That is hard-wired into your daily or weekly existence
You need to find some time and space to express yourself
that’s free of responsibilities, distraction
and all the stressful hubub of the daily grind
I do not consider this an optional part of of the art therapy journey
In many ways it’s THE most important part
Because the act of creation is not a relaxing one if it’s crammed in here and there when you can find the time and space
by all means go for that murder-free artistic retreat
and I’ll have more to say on this in the future
especially the non-murdering part
but for now, I want to talk about what you do for the rest of the time
Now, I know I said back in episode one that bringing your whole self to the artistic act was neither necessary
nor in many cases desirable
But here’s the thing, you still need to bring quite a lot of your self
but more importantly, you generally need to bring JUST yourself
Unless you’re one of those lucky types who can easily shut other people out
At the very least you need to bring some portion of yourself,
and give that portion of yourself the permission to engage in the creative act with impunity and without obstruction
I want to drill into these elements
- impunity
- permission
- but first - space
by which I mean physical space
although if you can find some creative space while actually IN space
That would be perfectly acceptable
Finding space to create often means you need to find some private space
I recognise that this is going to be difficult for many people
Perhaps you live in a house with a bunch of drunk students
or have young kids
although maybe there’s not a lot of difference between those two
So at the very least,
You need to find some space that can be rendered distraction free for example with headphones
and a do not disturb sign
Or somewhere you can go
Maybe a local park where you can find a tree to hide under with a sketchpad or your ukulele
Why is seclusion necessary to be creative?
Well, strictly speaking, it’s not
But the creative act, in the way that I talk about it, is a solitary process
and a monotrpic process
What do I mean by that?
I mean that you you need to give enough of your being to it
Your attention, your body
That largely precludes doing anything else, other than maybe listening to some music
When I’m painting I can listen to a podcast or an audiobook
But if I’m writing I can listen to anything where I can discern the words
Otherwise I just can’t concentrate
No words of my own will come
Any songs with clearly audible lyrics
Particularly hip hop
I just can screen them out
So I tend to listen to a lot of death metal cos you can’t usually hear what they’re saying
And probably don’t want to anyway
But there are other forms of music that you could consider
Like any process that requires a lot of concentration
Like coding or doing your finances or beating someone at pool
Disturbances and distractions will really throw you off your game
And getting back on your game is hard
And maybe you can’t
For my day job I write code
basically programming
It’s a really big thing in the tech space that you don’t disturb coders in flow
As an aside, coding can be a very creative process
and also lends itself to flow states
In an upcoming episode I’m going to talk, probably at length, about flow states
They trance-like states of mind you can get to when engaging in something that takes your whole attention
Some call it being “in the zone”
Total focus
If someone disturbs you while you’re in one of these states
Not only is it annoying
It’s a bit like knocking a train off its tracks
It can’t continue
And it’s going to take a bunch of heavy lifting to get it back on its tracks
Before it can even get moving again
So much time and momentum is lost
So much time is wasted
and it annoys the crap out of the coder
and what for?
So you could ask them if they remembered to send some pointless email or whatever
No
There’s an understanding in business that respect their coders
DO NOT DISTURB
Not because they’re highly strung
although often they are
but because it’s BAD FOR PRODUCTIVITY
And it’s usually a manager, the people ultimately responsible for productivity
that do the disturbing,
Since the other coders know better
it’s seems a bit silly to do something so damaging to productivity
not to mention the damage to staff morale
From a therapeutic perspective, flow states are like gold dust
We’ll come back to the concept of productivity as relates to the creative journey
But suffice to say that being productive is not a necessary prerequisite
to being a happy creative
and is frequently has an entirely negating effect on the therapeutic value of art
However, being immersed and relaxed is EXTREMELY important
And disturbances are equally hard to recover from
and often knock you so far off track, you can’t get back on again
But this is not about slowing you down
It’s not the productive track that matters here
It’s the psychological track
So much is lost in that little disturbance
In terms of the calming power of the creative act
So let’s assume that you found a quiet corner
or even total isolation
alone on an island in the middle of the pacific
Do you feel relaxed?
Do you feel like you are justified in being in that space?
Like you deserve to be there?
Do you have permission?
This is not a minor point
Maybe those around you are giving you the space
But are you giving yourself that space?
It seems in the modern world, in the west at least
you’re always supposed to be doing something
Every moment must be LIVED
TO THE MAX
This has not always apparently been the case
It’s generally believed that men in hunter-gatherer tribes
both of antiquity and existing remote tribes
Only tend to work 3 or 4 hours a day
The rest of the time is spent chilling!
These days if you’re not actually DOING
everyone seems to feel like they need to LOOK like they’re doing
We fill up our schedules
Work long hours
Play hard
Or if you have a family
all that goes out the window
and you work a 27 hour days
in servitude to demanding sprogs
who, at any age
seem to think that your free time
or headspace
must always have THEM residing in it
Whether such responsibility is real or not
Whether the demands you face are self-imposed
or just, life
Finding the space
Physical or psychological
can sometimes seem impossible
I think people frequently find this situation claustrophobic
disempowering and constantly stressful
this can lead to bad places
Humans need respite
Not 10 minutes snatched while the toddler tries to hospitalise itself in the back garden
Not that faintly uncomfortable date with your other half
Not time infront of the TV only half paying attention while you doomscroll and answer SnapChats
All of that is different favoured version of the same slog
No, humans need regular rest
TRUE rest
And failure to get this will inevitably result in decline in mental health
Sustained over long periods can lead to VERY dark places indeed
So maybe you do just need an undisturbed cuppa infront of the TV
or spliff by under a summer sky
But since you’re here, I’ll assume that you achieve your kicks by letting the creative juices flow
Just like those other activities you need to find that space
Proper space
But once you get there, how often do you feel GUILTY?
Twitchy and uncomfortable
I think many people feel more guilty in front of an easel than they would in front of the TV
since at least then they’re spending time with the other half or family
Maybe you need to get permission from someone else
Do that if you need to
And if the kids can’t be trusted to leave you alone
Make sure that you arrange for someone else to keep them caged or whatever is needed to constrain them
But did you also give yourself permission
You may think you did
But how often are you only half there
feeling like you should be somewhere else
doing something else
But the kids aren’t stopping you
YOU are
This is not often easy to achieve
When really is the right time to check out?
If you attempt to suffice with some snatched time here and there
then those moment will frequently not arise
and when they do
you’ll likely not be able to achieve the required headspace
If you’re serious about building art into your life
then you need to be more purposeful than this
It’s best to create some time in your schedule
preferably the same time every day
or whichever days of the week make sense
and book these out
Arrange with anyone concerned that you will be COMPLETELY out of commission for that time
NO QUESTIONS ASKED
Not best efforts
Not “unless something comes up”
That time must be sacrosanct
and respected
ESPECIALLY by you
Find some space where people can’t easily barge in
OWN IT
After that, it’s down yo you
Lean in and relax
You’ll feel the difference
The benefits are transformational
I have the hours between 6pm and 8pm at least 5 out of 7 days a week
blocked out for this
I’m often very wound up and stressed from my day job
and this is how I wind down
My family knows what happens when I can’t get this time
I don’t get grumpy of petulant
this is not. “I must have my man time”
If I don’t make this space in my schedule
I simply stop functioning
My mental health starts declining almost immediately
And I get worse and worse until very bad things happen
This time is all but prescribed
And It’s considerably more effective than either therapy or medication
and believe me I know, having being prescribed both
multiple times
Don’t get me wrong, that stuff has helped
to one degree or another at least
But not nearly as much as my creative headspace does
It’s important to remember that what your produce in that time is only peripherally important
Back to my mantra like obsession with process
See episode 2
what you DO
The QUALITY of that time
matters WAY more than important than what you produce
or how productive or effective you are
Quality time spent doing something that you love
is worth WAY more than anything that you might make anyway
And I would argue that what you learn when you fail to make something great
is just as valuable as producing stuff that you’re already good at producing
It’s ALL part of the process so it ALL matters
So, to your homework
I want you to find that regular headspace
I want you to go look at your routine
Your calendar or whatever
And I want you to carve out some time to make that creative space
And you should go and agree with whoever needs to agree with that
And set the ground rules
No ifs,
no buts,
no guilt,
not disturbance
If you already find such time
Then I simply want you to reflect on it
next time you’re in that space
Simply remind yourself of why it’s so vital and magical