Embracing Creativity: The Power of Consistency, Patience, and Self-Discovery

Working through feelings of overwhelm and anxiety when creating

When it comes to pursuing our dreams and tapping into creativity, it can be easy to find yourself in a place of feeling overwhelmed and not sure which direction to take. We feel anxious and pressured to figure out next steps. Our anxious mind keeps us stuck in this searching, fear-based mindset, all the while, the thing that we need to focus on is right in front of us. So how do we narrow in and discover our passions and interests that lie within? How do we continue to build and grow when we are not sure which direction to go in?

The Importance of Consistency

Daisy and I have been building out the Life Unpotted podcast for about a year now. It’s been interesting embarking on this journey of simply showing up every week and recording. We made a decision to commit to podcasting, no matter what, and this decision has proven to be invaluable in deepening our understanding of our creative ventures as a whole and the impact that we are striving to leave on this world.

The thing about creativity and creation is that it is one that we need to allow to unfold. I’ve often found myself sitting in front of my laptop, staring at the computer, with a deep sense of unease and fear. The more that I reflect, the more that I see that this fear has kept me stuck in recurring cycles of overthinking what steps to take, instead of narrowing in on the steps I’ve already taken.

I have been podcasting every week (now 2x a week) for over a year. By doing this, I have learned so much about myself - I’ve learned about what I care about, my passions, my interests, how fear keeps me from creating, what it really means to tap into flow state, etc.

We made the decision to stay consistent with podcasting, and now I’m realizing that this consistency is really the key when it comes down to creating anything. I now see how consistency has worked with podcasting, which has made me think about how I can apply this to other aspects of my life. Next on deck: writing. I’m going to write more consistently, to hone in on my writing, better understand my voice, and further evolve on this journey.

So if there is something that you are looking to pursue but you don’t know the next steps, just pick one thing, focus on it and stay consistent. Allow yourself to do it consistently without judging your progress. Check back in a month or in a year. No matter what, you will learn and grow from it.

I’m learning that creativity works with a nuanced balance of intention and surrendering. You want to surrender to the flow to see where your mind takes you, but you also want to have a level of intention where you are actively involved in what you are creating. Setting guideposts (i.e., I’m going to write 2x a week every week) can help to keep you structured and consistent.

The Role of Patience and Time

I don’t know if I would’ve fully comprehended all of these insights if I hadn’t taken the time to learn. My growth has been happening gradually, and I’m now starting to see it all compound. I first started by making a TikTok account about 3 years ago, and then soon-thereafter we started the Life Unpotted podcast and I started sharing more on more social media channels. I’m now at a point where I feel more comfortable than ever expressing myself online.

It’s super important to highlight the time in which it took me to fully comprehend these insights because growth takes time and we can’t force things to unfold. We really can’t. It’s easy to want a quick fix to our problems (really our perceived problems because there are no problems in reality). We struggle to create because we feel inpatient and and are looking for happiness externally. So when it comes time for creating and learning, we rush through the process instead of relaxing and giving ourselves time.

Rushing man. Wow. I'm really reflecting on this recently. I’ve spent so much of the past few years rushing through everything I did. I would put on a Youtube video to learn something and I would literally fast forward to try to get to the point as soon as possible. My attention span seriously was not there anymore. Is this from being on my phone so much? Maybe. Wow.

This is a really important realization from a creation perspective (and really anything in life). If you approach what you are creating with a sense of fear and urgency, you will probably keep spinning in circles going further and further from what is already right in front of you.

Confronting Illusions of Comfort and Security

I have been working through a ton of anxiety the past few months as I’ve been living on savings and living in the unknown. This specific experience has been an incredible lesson of surrendering - how to wake up everyday and feel truly relaxed and as ease even when I didn’t have much money coming in. And the reality of it is, I had enough money to last me over a year, yet it didn’t matter. I still felt anxious everyday, which got in the way of me being able to focus on what I wanted to create. I was too anxious to let go and write for 2 hours during the day because of the overwhelming fear that things weren’t going to work out. A never-ending feeling of impending doom, really.

This is really a huge insight. This is the feeling that keeps us stuck and prevents us from accessing our innate creativity that comes from when we relax. I think we all feel this way. I mean clearly I did. And what I’m realizing now more clearly than ever is that - it was never about the money.

We look at money as some sort of shield. We look to money and think that our ability to relax is correlated with the amount of money we have. I’m not sure when I started thinking this - maybe it was the fact that I thought I felt more relaxed and at ease when I was working at my job with a comfortable salary. But the more I peel back layers, the more I see that I wasn’t. It really was a pure illusion, where I thought that I was okay, but then bam, as soon as I was living in the complete unknown, I was so anxious. All of the anxiety that was buried deep within me slowly started to reveal itself as I deepened further and further into the unknown. Moving to a new city with absolutely no sense of familiarity, living on savings, leaving a high paying job in NYC, to come to Austin TX and to listen to that sense of intuition that told me to do so.

I’m trying to think of an example to explain what I mean by this - the concept of how things may not appear to be what they are and how we can really hide ourselves from the truth of the fears that have been holding us back, even though we think they aren’t holding us back because we are comfortable. It’s like the whole thing of - oh but I have really good benefits at my job, so I’m never going to leave (but deep down you HATE it). Ok. Like, if we were to zoom out, comprehending that we are existing on an earth right now, as if we were entering this reality for the first time, we would probably look at office jobs and be like wut is this. Or we would look at this lifestyle that’s built solely off of money and we would be like wow - why the heck did we set up society like this?

Makes me wonder - how is illusion defined?

noun. something that deceives by producing a false or misleading impression of reality. the state or condition of being deceived; misapprehension.

This. The false or misleading impression of reality.

When you are in extreme comfort, it appears, at first glance, as a beautiful, shiny object. But when you rip off the illusion lens, and put on the lens of clarity and perspective, you’re like holy shiz - what the f is happening. This is the life I’ve been living? How? Why?!

The ability to shift perspective and see that the reality of our mind is not the reality that is actually happening is perhaps the most important tool in life.

Okay, back to the main point of this post. I’m honestly not even sure how I got here.

What You Are Searching For Might Be Right in Front of You

With all of the above in mind, I realized that other day that I have been searching endlessly for the next steps to take with my creative journey, until I had a profound insight after watching this YouTube Video that my friend George Poulos suggested in his newsletter (awesome video - check it out here).

I have been spinning in circles thinking about what to do next because I have been approaching creativity out of a place of fear and anxiety. Recently, I’ve been feeling much more relaxed and at ease, and bam, the insight hit. I want to continue deepening my relationship with writing. I want to write more and more and more! I want to share all of the wisdom I have learned over the past few years and share it via the forum of writing, and there are so many ways to approach this. I realized that my next step wasn’t one that required me go zoom out, but actually required me to zoom in. To deepen what I was already working on and interested in - something that I have thought many times but never actually done.

The point of all this? I think we all know what we want to focus on. We know what we are interested in, but we are scared. We are scared to slow down and to really take the time to focus without getting any sort of immediate gratification from it. But this is where we start to discover the depths of our being - when we learn to enjoy the process of the act of creating, with consistency, without any sort of reason other than to simply find out what we will discover. Man, is that a fun journey.

All in all, let’s choose to embrace creativity with an open and patient mindset, remembering that consistency is key, and that the answers that we are seeking for can be found once we allow ourselves to let go and relax into the here now.

Life Unpotted Podcast and Community

We had an absolutely electric conversation in our community zoom call last night! We truly tapped into flow state, it was pretty crazy. Everyone was able to move outside of their minds and enjoy a thought-provoking conversation. We discussed several fascinating and nuanced topics. Perhaps the biggest key takeaway was in regard to freeing ourselves from the roles that we play in relationships with people we have known for a long time.

Have you ever felt scared to be yourself with people from your past, but find it easier to be yourself with strangers or new people in your life? We talked about the fear associated with expressing our true self, especially in familiar relationships (such as with your parents), and the realization that many expectations are self-imposed. A big recognition was that it’s super important to let go of the stories that we have of other people and give them a chance to show up as themselves. We can do this by being ourselves and not playing into a role, particularly in family dynamics and friends from the past.

You can watch the recorded community zooms through our exclusive content available on our Patreon.

Have you caught up on the most recent Life Unpotted podcast episodes? Check em’ out :)

Your Preferences Could Be Holding You Back (this Tuesday’s episode)

Navigating Family Dynamics in Adulthood (last Thursday’s episode)