Motivation and the Importance of Taking a Step Back

            It may not surprise anyone reading this that there hasn't been a lot of posts on this blog recently.  Cory and I have made numerous attempts over the past few years to post on a regular schedule; sometimes we have been successful, while many other times we were not.  We would always try, but life would always take priority and that meant we would have to pause our endeavours.  Most of the time it was work related; prioritizing a busy schedule with time to decompress.  Other times it was due to social obligations with family or friends.  We always did our best to percevere, but it wasn't always successful.

            Another hurdle that we needed to overcome was one of our own creation.  Often times he and I would be working on large projects.  Any time we are working on our novels and novellas, we aren't writing smaller pieces for the blog or for any self promotion on other sites or on social media.  Speaking for myself, it became a bit of a vicious cycle in my attempt to gain noteriety; I would hyper-focus on my novel, and go months upon months without writing anything I could use for the blog.

            So my response was to course-correct and try to work on short stories or motivational pieces to post on here.  The thought was that I could create a backlog of stories/posts that I could utilize to keep a timely posting schedule.  My intentions were good, but the followthrough was never great.  Like I said above, life gets real and you have to prioritize what's important, and as someone who currently does this writing schick as a hobby, it ends up getting buried by the important things.

But we never let this stop us, and no matter what, we continue forward and develop new strategies to keep the gears turning.

            This cycle is one that I have been trapped in pretty much since the blog has started, and it's one that I am eternally trying to break free from.  But the question is, how do I do that?  No matter what I tried to, an aspect of my writing goal would fall to the wayside.  The answer was always to change up my strategy, but everything I tried seemed to end in vain, which would start a seperate, yet just as damning cycle.  It would start with me trying to accomplish too much, and end with me feeling creatively burnt out.

            For those who haven't dealt with it before, creative burnout, in my opinion, is the single worst thing that can happen to anyone working in the creative field.  Your motivation disappears; the very idea of trying to work on a piece seems utterly exhausting.  Sometimes that is paired with the lack of new ideas, and other times the new ideas will flood your mind; to be honest I'm not sure which one is worse.  On one hand, it's nice to know that your creative inspiration hasn't dried up, but it's terrible having all those new ideas with no motivation to complete them.  But on that other hand, we have the absense of any-and-all ideas which just makes you feel like a failure.

Eventually I always find a way to break out of the cycle and begin writing and creating again, but it begs the question; if I kept my motivation, would that have prevented the creative burnout?

            The answer at the end of the day is no, it would not have prevented it.  I have begun to learn that motivation walks hand-in-hand with ambition, and ambition can often be the downfall of your endeavours.  In my experience, ambition can blind you to your own limitations.  I would push myself to write more and more, and after some time it felt more like a chore than something that was fun and exploritory.  When it starts to feel like work and you begin to dread sitting down to write, that's the first sign that you need to take a step back.

            Taking a step back isn't always easy because it can feel like you're giving up, but believe me, that is the furthest thing from the truth.  When you begin to lose that creative spark, taking a step back merely means you're taking a much needed moment to recharge.  This is healthy, and doesn't require anything substantial at all.  Go on hikes, read a book, go see movies, play a game or hang out with friends.  Do anything that you have been putting off for the sake of your current Work in Progress (WiP for my Twitter[not calling it X] friends).  What would be ideal is to do something that could give you inspiration, but that could be a double-edged sword, depending on how burnt out you are.

            Motivation comes in waves; sometimes they are giant and other times they are small.  What's important to remember is that no matter the size of the wave, or how long of a lull there is in between, they will always return.

            For those that have made it this far, I just want to give a couple brief words of advice; this all comes from my personal experience, and are solely my views.  I only wish to help anyone reading this realize that what you're going through is common, and isn't the end of your creativity.

• Just because an idea is new, doesn't mean it's better than your current WiP; write it down and come back to it once you're finished what you're working on.
• It's never too late to revisit an old idea, or to continue something you have shelved.
• There will be good days and bad days, that is inevitable.  What matters is that you appreciate the good days, and remind yourself that the bad days aren't that bad, and you will get through it.
• Never stop creating.  Sometimes it may seem that you're better suited for something else, but any previous medium may come into play at any point.  What matters is that you keep creating, because creativity is beautiful and the world needs beauty.

Lastly, always remember that there is an audience for your creations.  Sure, your art might not manifest itself as something that is deemed popular or mainstream (God knows that mine sure would be considered that), but there is always an audience for you; sometimes you might just have to wait for them to discover you, but it will happen.

-  Cody S