I bumped into this piece by Jamie Varon the other day, and it resonated with something I think I'm finally managing to allow myself: acceptance of the ebb part of life's flows, and feelizing the truth of it being, in fact, an essential and creative part of life's tidal flow. It applies to all facets of life, not just creativity: we say "just go with the flow", but how many of us try to push the flow, faster and harder, in the direction we think we should go, forgetting the ebb is a flow too, loosing all the benefits that come with stepping back and, ultimately, just getting swamped.
"You don't need more motivation. You don't need to be inspired to action. You don't need to read any more lists and posts about how you're not doing enough.
"We act as if we can read enough articles and enough little Pinterest quotes and suddenly the little switch in our brain will put us into action. But, honestly, here's the thing that nobody really talks about when it comes to success and motivation and willpower and goals and productivity and all those little buzzwords that have come into popularity: you are as you are until you're not. You change when you want to change. You put your ideas into action in the timing that is best. That's just how it happens.
"And what I think we all need more than anything is this: permission to be wherever the f— we are when we're there.
"We all know this: Our experience cannot always be manipulated. Yet, we don't act as though we know this truth. We try so hard to manipulate and control our lives, to make creativity into a game to win, to shortcut success because others say they have, to process emotions and uncertainty as if these are linear journeys.
"...You don't need more motivation or inspiration to create the life you want. You need less shame around the idea that you're not doing your best. You need to stop listening to people who are in vastly different life circumstances and life stages than you tell you that you're just not doing or being enough. You need to let timing do what it needs to do. You need to see lessons where you see barriers. You need to understand that what's right now becomes inspiration later. You need to see that wherever you are now is what becomes your identity later."
Read Jamie Varon's full piece here: https://medium.com/@jamievaron/to-anyone-who-thinks-they-re-falling-behind-f194afde9148
