YOU LEAVE ME EMPTY.
There’s a certain beauty that you can find in the darkness. A level of humanity and emotion that we all go through, and that most of the time we try to battle against. But why? Why fight against a part of us that is so integral to knowing the ‘real’ person that we are? We've all got both a light and a dark side of us. It's that dark side that's always interested me. Renowned psychologist Carl Jung called it the ‘shadow’. The unconscious and disowned parts of our personalities that the ego fails, or doesn’t want, to see, acknowledge, and accept. But, what if, by learning to accept and understand our shadow side we can, in some sense, make peace with it? Instead of fighting it, we can use it to our advantage. Now, this isn’t a blog telling you how to confront your own psychological shadow side but more a blog about the possible inspiration it can give you when you do…
FINDING INSPIRATION IN THE DARK.
I’m an advocate of embracing that darkness and using it as inspiration. You’ll probably have noticed if you’re a regular reader of the blog. Perhaps that’s part of the ‘artistic voice’ I’m trying to find. Anyway, I’m also an advocate of creating and sharing work that’s inspired by some of the darker stuff we can all face at some point in our lives. And, I would encourage you to do the same. Dig a little deeper inside yourself and see what you can find!
Despite it often being a much more vulnerable process, I believe that in the personal stuff lies the universal. We can all relate to feelings of hurt, anger, sadness, loneliness etc and, I would argue, probably more so than all the happy feelings we experience in life. There was a study done in conjunction with Spotify and on average people listen to more ‘sad’ music (50%) than ‘happy’ music (22%). So, maybe it’s not just me who likes to embrace the darker side of things.
SHARE AND DON’T CARE!
Making this sort of work can be a tough process though! And, as we’ve discussed, sharing the stuff that makes us feel vulnerable with the world can be even more difficult. Our egos worry about what people will think of our work but, probably more so, what people will think of us! But, again, that’s our ‘shadow', and we’re trying to accept and embrace that side of ourselves too remember? People will always judge us, but that doesn’t mean we should stop creating and sharing work. If it feels scary, maybe that’s when we need to lean into these things a little more. We don’t need to explain ourselves either, just be brave and keep creating! With all of that being said, here’s something I created when I dug a little deeper into my shadow side and explored some of my own vulnerabilities a little more.
MODEL CREDIT: RACHEL M
Remember that embracing the darker parts of ourselves can be challenging. But, by accepting and understanding elements of our shadow side, we can use them to our advantage. Finding inspiration in the personal and more vulnerable aspects of our lives. You can find some good stuff there and it can be a very cathartic process if you let it.
It requires bravery for any creative to keep creating! Especially when the work is about our vulnerabilities and the darker elements of our personalities. It can be difficult to share this work with the world, but we can’t let those negative voices in our heads, our shadows, hold us back. We need to be brave and keep creating in whatever form that is, and, if you’re brave enough, to continue to find beauty in the darkness.
RANDOM PROJECTS.
For me, all of these projects are helping me to find, and focus in on, the things that I’m the most drawn to. And, without sounding too pretentious, in some sense that artistic voice I keep going on about. All the projects feel a little random right now, but it’s all about finding the patterns that link them together.
Thanks for reading and always supporting my Creative Nowhere Land journey. Even if it is a very random one! If you haven’t already, then please consider signing up for the newsletter as it’s the first place to stay up to date on all things Creative Nowhere Land. Thanks again, and until next time…