Why Do We Have These Voices in Our Heads That Tell Us NOT to Create?
I’ve spent December introducing you to the Jellyfish, the voice of resistance; the Judge, your inner critic, and the Jailer, who wants you to stay invisible. These three characters are different parts of ourselves that we often encounter when we try to work on our creative projects.
Why do we have these voices that don't want us to make art?
There different parts of ourselves are trying to protect us because making art is risky. When you make your art, you are letting the world see the fruit of your own imagination, something that you alone made, that came from your heart.
Next to falling in love, letting the world see your art is the riskiest act in the world.
It seems like it would be easier if these voices in our head were kinder. But if they were, they wouldn’t scare us so effectively and we wouldn’t listen to them.
We’d put our art into the world
And then people would criticize it. Or worse. Ignore it. So painful.
But you have to make art
There is a way through all this cacophony in our heads. Counterintuitively, it’s by making friends with it.
I can help you.
If you want help working with these voices, book a 15 minute session with me and I’ll get you started.
If you are a creative struggling to get your work into the world, here are three other ways I can help you:
- Start by watching the interviews I’ve been doing with artists, to see what other creatives do to get their work out. I’ve been interviewing an artist every week, first on Instagram Live, and then on Zoom and posting the recording to YouTube.
- If you are ready to start selling your art, Download my cheatsheet: Keep Calm and Sell Something. Follow the directions in there, and tell someone else you’re doing it so you can be accountable to them. While you begin working with your trauma, the best antidote to pain is companionship and connection.
- If you want to make yourself a day job (which means starting a business), get a copy of my business plan book for creatives, Passion, Plan, Profit, and find someone, or better, three other someones, and go through the book together. The book tells you how to work in a group or in pairs, and you can download the worksheets in the book here. Companionship and connection again.
Your work matters.
What has been holding you back from putting your creative work into the world? Is it one of these characters I mentioned, or something else altogether? Let me know in the comments below.