Adapting to a New Creative Rhythm

When I had a full time job, my personal life rhythm was established by my schedule. I had a long commute to work, and had to leave home early to make it there by 9am. My bed time was at 11pm, mostly non-negotiable, as I was used to getting up really early, writing, having breakfast and going to work. Even on weekends, I rarely could sleep late, as my rhythm was set up.

Since I’ve been self-employed for a while, I’m able to make my own hours, and at first, I was able to keep up with the same rhythm. But during the spring, things started to change. I was teaching late evenings, and was getting home too late to make it to my 11pm bed time. That led me to not be able to wake up as early as I’d have liked either.

For months, I tried to go back to my old and familiar rhythm. I tried unsuccessfully to feel energized and inspired to write blog posts, even though I had slept through my usual time to write. It was quite a struggle, and I was not as productive as I could have been. With the lack of creative productivity at a certain time of day, and with the procrastination that somewhat unavoidably followed - came frustration, guilt and regret for not making things happen fast enough, or as it had always been. It became a vicious cycle. Finally, I decided to give myself permission to feel a new rhythm, to let go of the old one, to make peace with the fact that I didn’t need to go back to what it was. It turns out that I can be productive late at night, who knew?

When I had a stressful and overwhelming job, I could not see myself being creative at night, and it was a must for me to wake up really early to let the creative juices flow. Now that I have the freedom to work with what brings me the greatest joy, be it coaching clients, writing, drawing and painting, or teaching, I’m still creative, and at times even more inspired to write and create at “the end” of the day.

I took this post’s picture last week. I lit the candles at the same time, they came from the same box, and one of them finished burning in about two hours, while the other took more than five hours to burn. It was a reminder that we are all unique, that we can find our own rhythm, and that we don’t need to rush to catch up with someone else’s rhythm, and be as far along as they are in their process. We can allow them to be where they are, while we lit our own light and burn it in our own rhythm.

If you haven’t been feeling as productive and as creative at your "usual" time, I suggest that you take a few days to:

• Let go of the attachment to doing/creating as you have always done.
• Forgive yourself for no longer having the same pace.
• Allow yourself to pay attention to your rhythm within.
• Take the knowing and wisdom to heart.
• Apply your true rhythm to your life and business.
• Watch the magic unfold.

You will soon realize that once you give yourself permission to create when inspiration comes, your rhythm will adjust, and it might even come back to “normal”, or to the new normal you allow yourself to create. It is a great way to practice self-love as well.

Namasté,

Elisa Balabram