Episode 290: Cultivating Your Creative Practice

Hi, friend, and welcome to the Brand Strategy Podcast, a show created to equip you with the inspiration, encouragement, and clarity you need to build a brand of your dreams. I'm your host, Bonnie Bakhtiari, brand designer, strategist, and founder of The Illumetree. From sustainable strategy to heartfelt encouragement, each episode is designed to equip you with the tools you need to chase after your dreams. Because you deserve a brand that empowers you to do what you love, connects with your dream clients, and offers a deep sense of fulfillment along the way.

So grab a cup of coffee and join me on this journey, won't you? Hey friends, welcome back to the Brand Strategy Podcast, where today we're going to talk about creativity, specifically your creativity, and why the world needs your creativity this season. now more than ever. If we look at the season that we are experiencing for a lot of us, depending on where you live in the world, it is the holidays.

It's fall. It's autumn. Winter is fast approaching. And this is a time that is filled with a lot of gathering, a lot of celebration.

It's also a time that's filled with this kind of sense of going inward, this sense of rest, restoration reflection if we look to nature and we see what nature is doing outside it's a lot of the same right instead of watching trees and plants and flowers and all of these things in these big seasons of explosive growth we're watching them we're watching them fall we're watching them die we're watching them go back into their roots into the soil we're watching them you know, drop their seeds and focus on the kind of the ending of their life cycle.

And that is something that happens in nature, as you might know, because winter is a crucial component that prepares the earth for the coming growth of spring and then the bounty of summer and then the harvest of autumn and so on and so forth. So why does that matter to you as a creative, as a business owner? Well, it matters because we're a part of nature. And so what we're seeing happen outside in the natural world is in some ways happening within you as well.

And this is a time, especially in Western society, where we're asked to spend a lot of time and energy externally around the holidays. You know, there's a lot of family gatherings. There's a lot of, you know, professional commitments. There's, you know, gifts to be purchased and wrapped and gifted and so many wonderful things to be sure.

But a lot of, a lot of things that are asking something of you as well. But this kind of feels like an antithesis to that feeling of going inward and pouring back into yourself. And so where this kind of comes in, how this ties in with your creativity is now is a really beautiful time for you to be pouring back into yourself. Not just you know to to take care of yourself and to prepare yourself for the coming holidays and the winter months but also because your creativity deserves to be nurtured.

Something that I see especially in kind of the lives and the journeys of creatives like designers and floral artists and interior designers, wedding planners, people who are doing a lot of creating. So copywriters, especially thinking about how you are pouring back into that inner well of your creativity directly impacts your ability to pour back out into the world around you And not only that it directly impacts how you feel the quality of your creative process and the quality of life that you experiencing.

And that's really what matters. I think sometimes within the online business space, nurturing our creativity can kind of be something that's co-opted for the sake of capitalism. and that's something that doesn't really resonate with me. You know, maybe it does with you, maybe it doesn't.

If you want to kind of tiptoe a little bit more into this concept of, you know, how capitalism really doesn't care about your creativity, someone that I recommend checking out on Instagram is Maurice Harris over at Bloom and Plume. He has an incredible series of reels that really focus on creativity as a practice and how that can thrive in spite of oppressive systems like capitalism. But the reason why I bring that into the conversation is really if you look at how we are creating as creatives and the way that we are tapping into that inner sense of inspiration so that we can create beautiful things for ourselves, for our clients, for our customers, so that we can bring thoughtful and innovative solutions to the way that we run our businesses.

And then even the way that we live our lives and the way that we are engaging with the people in our lives who matter most to us. It's easy to fall into that mindset of thinking like, I need to take care of myself in this way and I need to like foster my creativity so I can, you know, make more money, so I can do more things, so I can, you know, launch this new offer or really whatever. But I would encourage you to think about nurturing your creativity, especially in this autumn and upcoming winter season from a standpoint of how can I foster my creativity for myself?

Like years and years and years ago, I girlbossed way too close to the sun and I turned my hobby of graphic design into the business that I have today. And in that process, I took something that I was doing purely for fun and I demanded that it make me a paycheck. I demanded that it pay my bills. And I think that for so many of us as creatives, we can relate to that where we took something that we felt passionate about and we saw the opportunity to help people.

And we saw the opportunity to make a living doing something that we love. And oh my gosh, isn't that the dream? right but then what happens is if you start to experience a modicum of success and a modicum of growth then you start to realize whoa this thing that I was doing for fun is now this thing that is paying my bills and it doesn't feel fun anymore because that pressure kind of takes some of the joy out of it so what happens is there's a need to reclaim your creativity there's a need to reclaim that sense of fun and joy and passion in the work that you do.

And if you're not able to do that, then I think it's important to find other outlets where your creativity can thrive and where you can kind of reacquaint yourself with what it feels like to be new at something and to play with it and to experiment and see what that looks like and feels like for you. So if that is resonating with you today and you're thinking, you know what, as we go into the upcoming months, I would really love to foster my creativity, spend more time with it, and pour back into myself in that way, just because you deserve it, then here are a few ways that I found to be supportive.

Of course, as with everything that I share here on the podcast, these are suggestions. This is not like an extensive list of what you have to do And certainly if none of this resonates then that totally fine because ultimately I making suggestions but you are the one who gets to make the decisions of what aligns with how you want to live your life and really how you define success But if you're looking for some places to start when it comes to playing with your creativity and pouring back into yourself in that way, here are some things to consider.

First and foremost, go on a solo date that feeds your inner artist. Next step, play around with what you wear. Play around with fashion. Wear the outfit that maybe you might not reach for day in and day out, but it makes you happy because your happiness matters.

Try to experiment in the kitchen if you're so inclined. So bake the really complicated recipe that you've had your eye on. If anything, just for fun, just for the practice of it, just for the meditative process that can come to life when we're working with our hands in the kitchen. Play more music in your day-to-day, especially in those kind of everyday moments that you might want to romanticize, like that morning cup of coffee, brewing yourself a cup of tea.

Anything that could use a little bit more joy. If you have access to a local library in your area, I highly encourage you to take yourself there and dive into a series of books or a series of topics that just piques your curiosity. It might not be something that you know a lot about, and in my case, I find that delightful. I love to learn.

So exploring your local library, diving into those resources and seeing what speaks to you. And the best part about that is it is completely free. If you have a furry pet like a dog or if you have a friend or a partner or someone in your life who would enjoy this time with you, go on a walk. You know, this time of year, especially if the weather allows, is a beautiful time to go out and to observe the changing of the seasons and to observe what that's like.

And then also it gives you the added benefit of spending that time with the person that you're walking with or spending quality time with your dog as you're walking together. And I highly encourage you throughout this process, whatever it is that you're doing, however it is that you are playing and that you are pouring back into yourself and you are fostering that creativity, I highly encourage you to take a moment just to marvel at what it feels like to be here right now. What it feels like to be existing in this tiny moment of your life on this beautiful spinning planet and space.

If you are feeling that you are needing to justify the time and energy that you're pouring into these hobbies, these outlets, these creative practices, I want to remind you that none of these things that you do ever have to make you money because you are living a life that is yours and you deserve to experience this wild, wonderful life of yours on your own terms. Not everything you have to do is for content. Not everything you do needs to tie back into your business or be a viable business expense, right because if we think back to in a lot of our cases the way that we started our businesses the way that we got into this creative work we were creative long before we were business owners so your creativity is a part of who you are don't forget to nurture that creativity because it is yours and it is precious if you're wanting to explore this concept of nurturing your creativity coming back to it a little bit more I highly recommend looking into the book the artist way by Julia Cameron it is a book that I have pulled some incredibly meaningful practices from like the solo artist state Practicing morning pages daily is another method that comes from that book And it something that I bought myself a copy of it years and years ago when I first started my business and I was recovering from one of my first rounds of burnout.

And I loved it then. And it was so transformative for me and really helpful. and I find that I come back to it time and time again like over my career and over the span of my life I found that there are times when something like that is supportive and it feels truly helpful so that's that's a book that I would definitely recommend and then also if you're thinking a little bit more about looking at things seasonally running your business running your creative practice from a component of seasonality and kind of mirroring what we see occurring in nature.

A book that I dove into earlier this year that I would recommend is called A Year in Practice by Jacqueline Suskin. And it is a book that's actually broken up into the four seasons that shares some creative practices and some just advice about living in time with the seasons and how one season kind of flows into the other and how you can reflect that through your creative practice and through your journey as an artist. Now, as we are exploring how creativity shows up and how creativity is something that you experience in your day-to-day, I hope that you remember that it matters.

And it matters because you matter. And it matters because when you are feeling inspired and when your creative well feels full and when you are pouring out into your art, into your business, into your work, into your relationships, into the world around you from that place of overflow, good things happen and you are contributing to the world in meaningful ways. And when we look towards not only the season that we're living in, but also just the time that we're living in, this time of being alive in the world at this specific moment in history, I believe that the world needs your art.

It needs your voice. It needs your passion and it needs your creativity. And all of that happens when we are taking care of ourselves. And when we are taking care of ourselves, we are able to better take care of others, the people in our lives, in our communities, in our families, and that's a beautiful thing.

So I hope that what we talked about today gives you some good food for thought. As always, if it's not meeting you at the right time in your journey, that's totally fine. Hang on to whatever you want. Keep it in your back pocket for later or don't.

It's totally up to you. But however you're moving forward, I hope that you are taking care of yourself, taking care of your creativity, and that you are experiencing joy through that process. And I'm grateful that you've tuned into this episode of the podcast today and that you are here in this space sharing part of your day with me. Thank you so much for joining me today, friend.

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Until next time, I'm cheering you on from Waco.