F*CK FEAR, DO THE WORK!
What are you afraid of? What am I afraid of? I’m not talking about standard or everyday fears like heights, spiders, ‘insert the phobia of your choice here’. Obviously, some of those fears are sensible and supposed to be healthy mechanisms in our lives to keep us safe. But, if you look a little deeper, are some of your fears actually just holding you back from achieving what it is you really want in life?
It’s been a rough year for everyone and when I started Creative Nowhere Land I had no idea the situation I’d find myself in as I write this. In the last year I’d burnt out well and truly, my relationship had broken down, I found out that my biological father had died a year previously, my business suffered and is still suffering as we are still dealing with lockdowns due to COVID. Let’s just say it’s all been a little overwhelming hence why I’ve not been posting on here as regularly as I would have liked. I’m getting there but I’m still in the process of working on my creative recovery and getting back to full strength.
Which brings me nicely to the topic of this blog. An amazing friend saw the struggles I was going through and suggested that I read a book that she thought that I’d really benefit from. She was so insistent in fact, that she ordered a copy, and the next day, a delivery arrived through the door of the very book in question. That book was ‘Feck Perfuction - Dangerous Ideas on the Business of Life by James Victore’.
I’ve now read it twice! It’s a book that I needed to read. A book that I’m sure I’ll read over and over again and a book that I’ve already recommended to a lot of people. So I will do the same to you now! I highly recommend getting a copy of your own if you’re feeling in a ‘creative funk’ of some sort. I’ve included some links to the book above and below as well as a link to James’s YouTube channel via the video for you to check out.
Anyway, here are some elements from the book that hit home to me and that have helped me see some light at the end of the tunnel moving forward creatively and dealing with some of my own fears.
F*CK FEAR!
So what are we scared of? Most of the time it’s our egos. What will other people think of the ‘thing’ we’re doing. Will people think it’s stupid or mad if you’re doing something out of your comfort zone. But you know what they say, ‘your comfort zone will kill you!’, and you can’t please everyone but you can please yourself first. So f*ck your ego and what other people might think. Make the work you want to make and leave your ego at the door. That’s what I’ve always wanted Creative Nowhere Land to be. A place where I can express anything that I like. I feel I had definitely hit, or maybe created, a roadblock and I’ve been getting in my own creative way as a result of my own fears.
DO THE WORK!
The antidote to fear is action! There are no short cuts. Inspiration without action is bullshit. If you want something you have to act with intention towards it. I haven’t been doing that! I haven’t been creating and I’m the only one to blame.
After reading this book I’ve started putting into place allocated times for creativity. I’ve begun trying to get into the habit of actually being creative again. Only sketching and writing so far but it feels like a good start. This has been a big step forward from doing literally nothing for the last few months to help myself creatively. Little by little these small actions are starting to create some momentum and I’m finally started to feel creative again. Where that goes who knows?
FIND YOUR VOICE!
Accept your weirdness. We’re all weird in some way and we all need to find our voices. They’re our most powerful tools. Not the voices of someone else but our own. If you follow the herd you never learn how to express your own truth. Trust yourself and your ideas.
As a commercial photographer, I’m so used to following someone else’s brief or ideas and with everything that’s been going on in my life and the world recently I feel like I’ve lost my voice. I’m not sure what I want to say anymore.
You can’t find your voice without knowing what you’re passionate about so, since reading this book I’ve started looking at the things that have inspired me and that have interested me throughout my life. Whether that’s art, music, psychology, people, love, sex, heartbreak. It doesn’t matter the subject, the more I can think of the better! I’ve begun brainstorming/mind mapping them and seeing where they lead in helping me find my passion and the things I want to say moving forward.
HAVE A PURPOSE!
What’s your purpose? Well, James puts it brilliantly in his book:
“The reality is that you are not lost - you’re searching for a purpose. A purpose is a reason to get up in the morning. Excited, horny and ready for the day. A purpose is the spark that incites you to move, act, and follow through. It provides focus and single-minded determination to get up and kick butt. You ain’t lost, you’re searching.”
For me it’s creativity and I’d lost that purpose. The only way to re-find that purpose is to do the work. Shut out the internal critic and begin to make the habits that set the foundation for my purpose. This is a constant work in progress.
FECK PERFUCTION
Done is better than perfect! This is a big one for me. I’m a perfectionist, or as James calls it a ‘self-hating narcissist’. I put things off and make excuses as to why I can’t share a blog or a piece of work until it’s perfect. I’ve done it with this very blog post (Sorry! I know this isn’t my best writing but it’s been a while and I’m still getting back into the swing of things).
I’m slowly realising perfect doesn’t exist and that none of my work or pieces that I create will ever be perfect. I don’t show the work because I don’t think it’s perfect but then no one will ever see anything I create. That’s that fear again though! Scared to show people anything unless it’s ‘perfect’. But that’s going to change and I’m going to start sharing more of the work I create as I go. I need to practice what I preach. So be prepared for all sorts of stuff.
WHAT NEXT?
Look, I’m not saying that by reading this book a couple of times all of the things going on in my life are going to get fixed and I’m instantly going to be churning out creative work left, right and centre. I understand that it’ll take time to get back to that stage but sometimes we all need a catalyst to help us on our way. A thing that makes us realise that no one else is going to help us and that we’ve got to take responsibility for our own outcomes in life. This book was that for me! Maybe it will be for you too if you’re feeling in a similar ‘creative funk’. I know what I need to do and now I just need to do it! No excuses.
If you want to find out more about James and his inspiring work, make sure you check out his website, https://www.jamesvictore.com/ and his YouTube channel where he shares loads of information on creativity and staying inspired on your journey. But, if you want to stay up to date with my journey then it would be awesome if you took a minute to sign up to the Creative Nowhere Land newsletter below. I’m going to be focusing much more energy on my creativity so I can fill Creative Nowhere Land with lots of interesting stuff I hope you’ll enjoy.
Thanks for sticking with me. I appreciate it!
Matt