This project is becoming more and more personal. I have realized it encompasses my personal journey to discovering who I am, where I belong both in the world and in design, and how to be at peace with myself and the world around me. My creative block is a result of an imbalance between all these things. The ironic thing is that I know you can't force inspiration, it comes from anywhere. Still, I have to find a way out of my rut, and out of my destructive creative process.
Funnily enough, after brainstorming in class I think the real solution is that I need to get a life. I need to find balance between my work life and personal life, and I need to find balance within my work life, and within my personal life. I need to organize my time effectively to alleviate stress and to be sure I'm getting a proper night's sleep.
But I feel this is a big task for anyone in their lives. It's a hard thing to balance work, personal life, health etc. Where do you find time to get your exercise, cook healthy food, spend time with your family, visit friends, go out and do something you enjoy, read a book, watch TV. There's just no time!? How do you get all that and all your work done all while getting a full night's sleep?
Inner peace is another big thing that came up. How do you find inner peace? How do you deal with all the inner anxieties and stresses? All the doubts and insecurities that rattle around in your brain?
D! I kind of missed the early stages of this project, but I'm glad you posted it again! I think you made the right choice in approaching your topic by defining the problem you're experiencing instead of trying to choose a problem you perceive other people experiencing. It'll make it very easy to measure your progress and successes. I feel like the voice of Selma is hovering somewhere nearby going "you're not designing for you!" but I do think it's okay to approach this one from a personal perspective!
ReplyDeleteIn any case, I'll be very interested to see what you come up with from this, as I have the same lack of balance myself. Thus, my answer to your first set of questions about where do you find time, is, like you, I don't. And the results are not good. :( As for dealing with anxiety, on that front I'm a lucky because I know what direction I want to go from here, and I can focus everything on that (although that in itself is scary and stressful because it means putting all my eggs in one very fragile basket). Finding inner peace was something I could do with yoga, but I haven't had time for that in months, so... you know the pattern. Lastly, inspiration... I'm not sure about that one exactly, because so often I wouldn't identify my work as "inspired". I suppose as far as generating ideas and keeping my mind working and thinking in new ways, I just try to keep learning about interesting things. I read/listen to lots of blogs/podcasts on science, philosophy, literature, random interestingness, etc. as well as the standard design fare. I think it helps me position my design work within a context, to understand where it fits and how it works in the world. Or something? :P
Good luck with it, and keep posting!
Work / Life Balance: The feeling doesn't go away. I find that those who love their job and are good at it (aka not punching out at 5:01 and going home) sacrifice their personal life for work. Not that this is a bad thing, I'd rather have this problem then a job I don't care about.
ReplyDeleteOne thing that has helped me is to make work time all about work, and personal time all about personal. Getting a studio job helped me draw these lines.
Inner Peace / Anxiety: Seems to go hand in hand with being an artist/designer. Love to tell you that it al goes away! :)
Hope this helps!
Yes, thank you! These both help.
ReplyDeleteI keep coming round in circles with this whole project in the sense that I know that there is no straight answer, I know for the most part once I've more control and balance in my life, inner peace will be easier, stress levels will go down, happiness will go up, and my ability to balance work and life will be easier. I know inspiration isn't the answer of a simple math equation, it's sporadic and unpredictable. Yet I still have hit this block and I need to work my way through it.
It's always interesting to hear how other creatives do it.