The Impact of Nature and the Seasons on Creativity
There has always been an ebb and flow to my creativity. I either go completely bonkers with it and barely remember to eat and sleep, or I go the other way and struggle to muster one creative thought in my head. I never used to pay attention to when or why this was, I just assumed it would change or settle eventually, perhaps when my student days were done.
Despite my brief foray into education once more for my masters, I can safely say I have not been a true student for some time, and yet the ebb and flow continues as ever. What has changed is my perception of it. Day to day we all have moments of energy and clarity in what we are doing, just as we all have moments filled with an utter lack of motivation. But I have realised that, for me, there is a bigger picture to take into account: the seasons.
Currently we are in the midst of winter, and in all honesty it has been an almighty struggle for me to get through. In the build up to Christmas I was finishing orders, making presents and running on so much adrenaline I was practically flying. Then came a moment of rest and the inevitable exhaustion hit. Hard. I have been trying to pick myself up again ever since and just not quite managed it. The urge to stay cosy and comfortable has spread beyond my body and to my mind - I just can’t bring myself to think about anything that will require me finding that kind of energy again, the thought itself exhausts me.
Then hope arrived with the sight of a snowdrop.
That first indication that winter will end reminded me that this feeling too will not last. The tendrils of creativity begin to work their way through my mind as I walk among these tiny flowers, and I find myself able to think about projects that have only scared me the last few weeks.
The New Year has never been a good time for me to start new projects or make plans, but spring is so full of new beginnings I cannot help but be enlivened and inspired to start some of my own. Summer has, in the past, been a time of great productivity, running free with the ideas from previous months, and autumn becomes a time of reflection. But I have realised that this first month or so of the year will never be my friend creatively, so why force it? Instead I have focused on other areas in my life, using the time to make a different kind of plan, and knowing that all to soon I will be going bonkers in the studio once more.