We all experience it at some point during the creative process and sometimes more than once. It is totally normal. I’ll admit that I have at times given into this frustration and quit working on a project. Sometimes forever and sometimes just for a little while. Was I just blocked or was the project wrong for me?
All projects have their ups and downs and can threaten to burn you up or out. How do you tell which projects are worth sticking with and which ones just aren’t right for you? Can you tell if the project is really the problem or if some other life issues are interrupting your work flow?
I could go on with an even longer list of questions, but I’ll save you from that. I think that if we are connected to our creative centers then our intuition will help guide us toward great projects. If we are creating deeply with meaning and exposing our vulnerable selves, we must be doing right.
It can be hard to find that connection with projects that we are hired to do. What the client wants may not be something we enjoy making. When this happens it is time to dig really deep and find at least one thing in the project you love. Even if it is something small.
Another way we can lose that connection is life stress. We all have some kind of crap we have to deal with. Stress stifles creativity. Find a form of stress relief that works for you and use it daily if you need to. Meditate, do yoga, go for a walk, put on your favorite music as loud as you can and dance yourself silly. Let the neighbors laugh. You just helped them relieve some of their stress too!
When you discover that the project you have been working on doesn’t really have any meaning to it, let it die. Grieve, morn, throw a wake for it if you need to. Realize it is time to move on to a better more fulfilling project. Don’t waste time trying to cram some fake meaning into it. You will hate the finished product and may be even yourself. Even if only for a little while.