The Problem isn't Where You Are in the Creative Journey

The problem is not “where you are”.

The problem is that you’re not where you are.

This is a phrase that’s been in my head a lot lately and it’s been helpful to me, so I thought I’d share some thoughts…

This is what I love about the idea of “seasonality” as writer Cal Newport calls it. It’s the notion that you should lean into the season you’re in and let it have an effect on your goals and intentions.

Sure, this looks like different expectations for yourself in summer than in winter, but it goes beyond that.

It’s about life seasons and letting yourself be informed by the space you find yourself in.

I just finished the classic book “Stoner” by John Williams and really enjoyed it. My favorite aspect of the book is how it distinctly captures life’s seasons. Often flavored by your job, other times a relationship, sometimes by global circumstances.

While I appreciate a stoic unwavering of values and an unwillingness to bend to whatever pressures you currently face, I need to balance this in my life.

Sometimes I need to go into “survival mode” as my dad would call it. Sometimes I need to challenge myself. Circumstance plays a role. The season I’m in informs me.

For me, this is the appeal of frameworks like “The Hero’s Journey”. It’s not perfect. Life almost never follows patterns like this exactly, but it contains such a wide variety of phases, I can usually find myself within one of them, and it helps me get perspective on what’s required from me in this time.

So. It’s summertime. I’m working different. I’m living different. I also feel like I’m transitioning out of a broader life season that’s been kind of a rough one, and while the greater world still feels dicey, I’m flirting with some hopefulness in certain areas!

This may be a helpful reflection for you: what season are you in, what would it look like to lean in?

Maybe it’s summer outside, but winter in your psyche, and you need rest. Maybe you’re in a season of grief and you need to drop expectations. Maybe it’s the season for new beginnings and you need to let yourself dream up ways of being you never saw coming.

Whatever season you’re in, I hope you find some acceptance with it today.

I touch on this idea along with several others in the new “adhd grab bag” episode of my podcast Creative Pep Talk. It’s called “Get Back to Passion, Ignore the Internet, Reorient to “Bad” Creative Feelings and Find Your Next Season” on YouTube and all the podcast apps now.