I cared a lot more about going viral when I was in my 20s. I wanted to post that perfect photo, the perfect poem, the perfect Tweet. Even here on WordPress I was so invested in trying to get shared on Freshly Pressed that I had multiple blogs and would post to each of them every single day. Honestly, I don’t know how I did it. These days I can hardly post two blogs a month.
When I got into my 30s, life became less about “being a famous author” and more about being a decent human being. An authentic, decent human being. I think raising a daughter as strong-willed and stubborn as I am has knocked me down a few pegs. Motherhood has taught me that there are more important things than making it big.
I’ve heard a lot of people in the creative field discuss the importance of taking a break. They stress it, over and over, in podcasts and blogs, and yet I still see the unfortunate effects of burnout on social media, in my friends, and even in my own home.
Burnout is a very real thing that doesn’t just affect those working creatively. It can also affect those in the medical field, parents, and basically anyone who has a heartbeat. Chances are you have experienced burnout at some point in your life.
A few signs you’re experiencing burnout:
You’re more tired than usual (for no discernable reason)
You’ve lost interest in your career/hobby/pursuit
You have zero motivation
A negative outlook on things
Feeling like you have no purpose or sense of self
If you’re dealing with any of these things, my first suggestion is to check in with your doctor to see if there isn’t something medically going on first. Then, if it’s determined you’re physically healthy, see if he/she would suggest medication and/or therapy. Both can be extremely beneficial in overcoming burnout and getting you back to feeling normal.
Burnout can cause college dropouts and end dream-come-true careers. I myself have experienced burnout so severe that I’ve quit entire hobbies.
What’s interesting about burnout is a lot of the time it can be prevented. I’m not saying we could have prevented the pandemic and saved those doctors/nurses from all that mental anguish, but I am saying that most of us, especially those of us working in the creative field, can prevent burnout if we just do one simple thing.
Step away.
I’ve seen people on my Twitter feed dealing with such awful burnout that they wound up quitting the thing they loved doing the most. Many times I tried to give them the seemingly simple solution of taking a break. But this suggestion, as it usually does, fell on deaf ears.
What is it about the world we live in that makes us feel like we have to work ourselves to death? When did we learn that every hobby or non-work pursuit has to wind up being monetary or it just becomes a waste of time? It’s taken me years to break out of this mindset and I still find myself going back to it every so often. Even now, I still feel like the entire day was wasted if I didn’t do anything that’s been deemed “productive.” But the great thing about today and last year is that today I take the day off anyway. Just so I can see that the world doesn’t end.
I think it’s tricky for us working in creative careers because we seldom have a steady flow of income. We sometimes have to work 7 days a week just to get paid the same amount as we would in one day if we had a simple 9-5. So we work and work and work and when we see no monetary gain (i.e. no sales) we work even more.
The same is true for creative hobbies, only instead of a monetary reward we look for likes and shares. And the more likes/shares you get, the more you want next time. I’ve seen posts get hundreds of likes (more than I’ve ever gotten) and the artist upset because they felt nobody liked their work and so it wasn’t any good. Not only did this person seriously need to take a break, but they also needed to reassess their definitions of value and success.
What is your definition of value? What is your definition of success? Is it time for you to redefine those terms for yourself?
Don’t be afraid to take a break. Even for one day. Find something that has nothing to do with your career/hobby/pursuit and make it part of your daily wind-down. Set a specific time to leave the desk and go through with it. Make it a habit. Hand the kiddos off to dad or grandma for a while and go take a long bath.
Give yourself time to miss what you do, to remember why you wanted it so bad in the first place.
For me, currently, my non-artistic hobby is jigsaw puzzles. I’ll turn on some House or Supernatural and pull out a big 300+ piece puzzle and put it together on the coffee table. This is a great way for me to step away from the phone/tablet, the painting tools, and my to-do list. Outta sight outta mind.
A bonus is when it draws in Goo and the husband and we all wind up putting a puzzle together as a family.
If you’re finding that you’re all work and no play, it may be time for you to take that break. Don’t wait until you start to feel the burnout coming on. Prevent it by leaving the canvas every day at 3pm. Prevent it by getting a good night’s sleep instead of working until dawn. Prevent it by taking care of yourself.
If it helps, treat the break as another way to reach your goals(s). Sometimes the very reason we can’t figure out the direction of a piece is because we’ve been looking at it too long. Use that as your excuse to finally go on that hike. You’ll be surprised by how much clearer you are when you return.
“Do you have the patience to wait Till your mud settles and the water is clear? Can you remain unmoving Till the right action arises by itself?”
When we first stepped out of 2020, I’m sure a lot of us were like Frodo after the ring melted in the fires of Mordor.
And at first it seemed we were coming out of it, especially when the vaccines arrived, but it wasn’t long for me (and most of us, I’m sure) to see that 2021 was more of the same. We still had to wear masks, still had to use hand sanitizer after pumping gas, still had to worry when one of us started to run a fever or uttered a minor cough. This also meant that a lot of the events I was sure would be coming back in 2021, were canceled yet again.
Because of this weird limbo state of having one foot in normalcy and the other still in pandemic-land, my art career continued to feel more like a light at the end of the tunnel instead of a full-time job. Though I understood–and was thankful for it–why certain events were canceled, I still felt something like a leaf in a stream that had gotten tangled in some old debris. While the current continued beside me, I was stuck.
Still, despite it all, I managed to find comfort in many different things that I might not have otherwise, such as journaling (with words) and returning to nature with my detached lens. 2021 for me became less about career growth, and more about personal growth. I learned to slow down. That I had the time, even if I’d convinced myself otherwise, to do something that didn’t have monetary value.
I recently listened to the final podcast of the year by Creative Pep Talk. It was about how to make 2022 different, instead of more of the same. The big takeaway was to take insight from 2021, sure, but to also try new things. New begets new. More of the same begets…well…sameness.
In order to take away the insight 2021 had to offer, we were to make a list of our mistakes and our breakthroughs, and to write the “big lie” we’d told ourselves throughout the year. Doing this exercise gave me some serious hindsight and showed me exactly what I needed to change for myself in 2022.
For me, my biggest mistakes were:
Not taking enough hikes
Ignoring certain passions and hyper-focusing on others (example: ignoring my photography because it wasn’t my “job” and giving all of my attention to the art biz.)
Working in the evenings and/or on weekends
But I also had some serious breakthroughs:
The Bunnified Project on Twitter
Being interviewed for the local paper complete with photoshoot and front page shoutout
Getting back into photography
Taking over the After School Art Club at the local gallery
Starting the Kids’ Photography Club in our city
One big takeaway from my breakthroughs was that getting the community involved with art and/or starting conversations about art (all types of art) is super rewarding to me. This was why the Bunnified project was so meaningful, and why I found I loved running the After School Art Club.
Finally, what was the biggest lie I told myself in 2021 regarding my creative practice?
Actually, I had two big lies that went hand-in-hand.
Lie #1: I don’t have the time.
Lie #2: I have to choose a focus/passion and stick with it, even if it means ignoring my other passions because of Lie #1.
When I look back on 2021 I see that I did, in fact, have a ton of time to do the things I neglected. I know it’s hard to find that mentality when in the thick of things, especially when you are your own boss and have the control over whether or not you get paid, but it’s important for us to remember that the business will still be there when we return. Even if we take a day, a week, or even a month off.
How do I hope to make 2022 a different year?
Well, for starters, I’m going to GET OUT MORE. Being cooped up in the house isn’t as healthy as I’d like to pretend it is, and I get all sluggish and mentally cluttered. Getting out into the fresh air, even for a ten minute walk, does my brain some serious good. The hardest part is leaving the house. Once I’ve gotten past the front door, the rest should be a breeze.
I’m going to focus on allowing myself to take more breathers, to allow myself to have evenings off and weekends so that I can hang out with the fam, maybe play some board games, learn how to use my new Dutch oven. And every time I hear one of the two lies above in my head, I’m just going to repeat Mrs. Chudd in Chrysanthemum:
“Thank you for sharing that with us. Now put your head down.”
I’ve already gotten a head start by redoing my website so that it allows all of my creative passions to show, not just the illustration ones. And I’m working on not using specific categories for myself like “illustrator” or “pattern designer” or even “photographer.” Any time I hear one of these labels pop up in reference to my creative career, I’m going to redirect myself to the generalized term: “Artist.” I might be an illustrator some days. Other days I’m a teacher. Today I’m a blogger. These are identities and they should be placed among other such identities as “mom” and “gamer” and “husky-wrangler.”
To combat this identity crisis I often have in reference to my art career, I’ve returned all of my social media handles to @linaforrester. This will help me see that the things I post are from the menagerie of me, and not from one specific genre or medium. Plus it’s easier for my in-person followers to find me on the web.
Going into the next year, I wonder what lies I will tell myself in 2022, what mistakes I will make. What will my breakthroughs be? What lessons will I learn? Will I finally get into the Missouri Top 50 at the fair? Will Art in the Park actually happen this year? I think the thing about a new year that’s so intriguing is that it’s like traveling somewhere for the first time. It’s all unknown. And that makes it an adventure.
Until next time, may the lies to yourself be little and white and your breakthroughs be extra juicy.
Scribble Chai 