 When it is time to take stock, to consider changing the direction of your art practice? This doesn’t necessarily mean a radical shift, but you may need to pause, to take your own temperature. You want to make sure that what you’re doing still sustains you. Before you make any changes, take a few months and give it all you’ve got. Rededicate yourself, with passion and intent, to your current practice. Engage with communities of others doing what you do. Set up new goals, with milestones and measurements, to keep yourself on track. Spend some money, if you have to, to get advice from experts. After a few months, step back and assess where you are. Are you making progress? Are you seeing results? Most important, does your work still engage your heart and mind and energy? If your answers are negative, it may be time to find a new direction. I’ve always found the airline reminder “your nearest exit may be behind you” evocative, as it suggests the need to take a 360 degree survey of your options. Look up, look down, look forward, look back, to discover the core of your next creative endeavor. So many successful artists are inspired by a vision from their childhood. I see examples of renewal everywhere. A retired creative in advertising starts a foundation to support young artists; a burned out health care executive joins the leadership team of a nonprofit; a tennis coach starts a new career as a fine art photographer. Creative people express their creativity in a thousand ways. Changing direction might mean reshaping your life as a whole, or just making tiny adjustments. Trust yourself, be patient, as you discover what comes next. Use your creativity to reimagine your life as an artist. ~ Mary Mary Edwards, Ph.D Career & Life Coach for Artists “Left Brain Skills for Right Brained People” Instagram: coachingforartists.maryedwards Comments are closed.
|