The Creative Tightrope
#THE HIGH WIRE
The creative industry is not the easiest to break into let alone sustain a comfortable income without any other means. We spend quite a bit of time trying to balance so many different aspects of our life as we chase our dreams and passions. How do we stay balanced with all these aspects that are required to keep the dreams alive? Obviously we need to keep a steady stream of cash coming in. Yes, there are stories of the creative without a cent to their name, who lived out of their car before the big break came their way. This picture paints the fantasy of 'the struggling artist', which is not something we should strive for. Of course we also need to be looking out for our passion. Whether it be studying under great teachers, delving into the indie scene, working on your own projects, a combination of the three or even something completely different. It isn't any surprise that this would be a struggle to stay on top of.
#THE DROP
With all these elements, we still have another crucial point of focus we need to add. In this day and age social media presence can also be the difference between you, or that Instagram model with 100k followers and no training, landing that gig you would have been perfect for. So if we weren't unbalanced before, this surely should tip you over. With only 24 hours in a day, somehow these are all elements we should be looking after. Now throw in a social life, fitness, romance and down time, it almost makes you want to give it all up and find a 9-5 career with stability and a lot less fuss. It doesn't seem like their is any way to stay on top of this workload without burning out. Yet people can, and quite often do, balance it all with enough success that their dreams never seem to suffer, in fact they go from strength to strength. So if you are struggling keeping on top of your career. or you're finding that you are losing that drive and passion, we need to look at ways to keep you balanced and grounded.
#SAFETY NET
Firstly, perspective is a good start. We can beat ourselves up over the smallest hiccups, which can often lead to a frustrated mindset, potentially slowing down our productivity. Remember that not every week is going to be an amazing week for our true passions. Some weeks we might work more than others, which is great for the hip pocket, but means we are now struggling to fit all our creative ventures in. This could end up being the cause of frustration. But as long as you remember there will be weeks where our workload is far less, which is when we can compensate double up on our creativity. Try not to set unrealistic goals. I personally am one who does this quiet often, and that generally is the cause of most of my frustrations. Planning to get up at 6am to train before squeezing in an hour of writing before I am due to get to work then racing back before I head off to teach a class and getting back to work on a blog post or some more writing or some editing or acting work, sets unrealistic targets. Which inevitably makes you feel like you've failed, and possibly give up together. Be realistic with your goals. You'll be more likely to achieve them, and in the long run you'll get much more done than if you were to set sky high to-do lists. Sometimes you might burn yourself out playing catch up, but there will be other moments when you'll have all the time in the world.
We are required to juggle so many different aspects of our life to stay balanced. What do you struggle with most as you walk the creative tightrope? #Balance