Some years ago when I started to really focus on painting and began painting 15-20 hours per week, I had endless motivation. I thought it would last forever. But recently, out of nowhere, I have started feeling resistance. It shows up mostly as boredom and tiredness. I think it might even be in the aches and pains I experience. Though I’ve increased my exercising to help mitigate that from sitting so much. I don’t have any doubts about painting, I want to master it, but still this challenge keeps showing up. The thing is, it’s mostly my own mind that’s challenging me. It questions whether it’s ‘worth it’ if ‘I’m really improving, am I wasting my time?’. I’ve heard many people talk about this before, so I was prepared and this is how I deal with it, instead of giving up:
- Have a vision of who you want to be and remind yourself of it often, especially when you start to doubt yourself.
- What do you really want out of life? Are you living your goals or someone else’s? What are your top ten values? That should guide your decisions. Have you truly thought it out or are you just following the sheeple? Who do you admire or even envy? This is a clue as to what you really want. Put together a list of a few long term goals and small steps to get to those goals. Have a power statement. There’s a lot of info on this out there.
- Remember you are going to DIE .
- In society (I’m in the US), I’ve noticed there’s almost a denial of death. I think this is really messed up, as it’s the one guarantee we have in life. And it makes you waste your life and take things for granted. You are going to die, your life will end at some point. Your youth will end and you will experience getting older. I took being young for granted. I want to go back and slap myself, truly. Looking back, I was such a shallow unconscious idiot or it seems that way now. Don’t you want to try your best and do the things you feel passionate about? Then remember life is finite. At least this current human life is.
- Just commit to 15 minutes.
- This is so effective. Because I find once I start, I want to keep going. It’s the sitting down and getting started that’s difficult sometimes. Force yourself if you have to – do 15 minutes a day or on most days.
- Look at the work of people you admire.
- This wakes me right up. It gives me that tiny dose of unjustified envy that I need to remind myself – these people didn’t let resistance or laziness stop them! Am I going to?
- Listen to a creative podcast / video.
- Sometimes just painting day after day in silence can be a bit boring, it’s true. So if you need that extra inspiration in the background – do it! I listen to audiobooks, podcasts or less commonly, I’ll even have a movie I love going. If it keeps you creating, why not?
- Create a list of ideas you want to work on when you are feeling motivated so you can reference it in the future when you lack motivation.
- I put together painting references constantly working from my list of ideas, some ideas from years ago. I have many folders of images including photography I take myself, stock images I’ve purchased and photos from free images sites. I also have a folder of inspirational photos and use Pinterest extensively for inspiration as well. I put together photos in paint.net or photoshop elements so I always have painting references ready to go. There’s no – what should I paint?- I have no excuse.
I used to think artists had endless inspiration, that they were just different from everyone else, it’s just not true. This is another thing that’s left out when you see the romanticized BS shown on TV or in the movies. The reality is, nothing is always easy or even mostly easy. You work through the challenges to get to the good parts, but also because you love the process and want to stick with it. What else are you going to do with your free time? Doom scroll? Over the years I’ve learned that no one can or will do what you need to do for you, just as no one can or will do your workouts / healthy diet for you. You either value it or you don’t. You have to accept the difficulty in the process and work through it.