Each and every one of us has a creative “no no” zone, or in other words, clear boundaries that define where your creative safety zone begins and ends. Stepping on your tippy toes and stretching your arms up and out, beyond what you know as truth, is more than an exercise of being willing to dare. It’s a bold step forward into the black, dark void of creative possibility, but that’s where all the fun starts.
Sounds ominous right? Well, darkness does get a bad rap sometimes. That’s why it can help to see the darkness or “not knowing” as an opportunity to discover, rather than a potential threat to your creative safety zone.
So exactly how far and how often you are comfortable pushing your creative boundaries? No idea? Then it’s time to see if you’re stuck within your safe, snuggly, uninspired creative safety zone.
Recognizing the Rut and it’s Hidden Gifts
Ruts are real, and they are spectacular. Why? They show you where you’ve worn the ground into a trench or dug in your heels, shaping a baseline of comfort. You can’t know where you need to stretch without knowing what feels good, safe and reassuring. It’s when you are unable, or unwilling, to move farther that you begin to sense the dimensions of your creative safety zone and a rut becomes a problem.
A rut in one area of your life can also be influencing your creative inspiration without you realizing it. For example, if you keep going to the same places, running into the same people, it doesn’t allow much fresh energy to work it’s way into your bloodstream. It’s just like watching reruns. You know what’s going to happen, but it’s still mild entertainment combined with “spikes” of engagement inspired by your favorite jokes.
I have my own ruts, of course, just like any other person. I tend to stay in my home office to write and brainstorm where my intuitive radar can remain undistracted. Today I listened to my yearning to get out into the world, to experience the deep, rich smell of coffee and eavesdrop on the swirl of conversations in the background as I chose a topic for today’s post.
It’s not necessarily a big, earth shattering step (a writer in a coffee shop) but the point was that this one action got me out of my usual creative comfort zone. There were distractions and inspirations, there were friendly folks behind the counter and I met someone new who’s passionate about personal development just because the book The $100 Start Up by Chris Guillebeau was next to my laptop.
These interactions didn’t completely transform my world, and they aren’t meant to, but they did shift how I view it. My trip to create outside my usual safety zone reminded me where I have built up some false beliefs, and a comfortable rut, about where I do my “creating”.
Why It’s Time to Set Fire to your Creative Safety Zone
Courage in the face of change doesn’t have to be about jumping off the deep end into nothingness. It’s about making a conscious choice to see the edge of your creative safety zone, honoring it, and finding a way to reach out just a little further to see what’s possible.
It could start with changing your work or exercise routine, trying a new hobby or taking a class to refresh your outlook and meet new people. Or, your expansion can begin in an even simpler way through more meditation, journaling or other self-awareness tasks practices, opening a whole new level of creative safety zone boundaries, gently and naturally.
Just being willing to be honest with yourself, to bump against the creative safety zone that circles you and all you do, is all you need to get started. Then follow where your heart points you next. What have you always wanted to try? Where are you selling yourself short in terms of your talents? Do you think of all the complications before you open up to the possible joy and rewards of pushing past your comfort zone?
There is, of course, the other end of the spectrum. If you are constantly busting through the walls of your creative safety zone, do you have a true sense of who you are? Or are you just determined to try anything and everything, just because?
There is absolutely nothing wrong with pushing boundaries, but without a sense of self to keep you stable, it’s more of an exercise in forever-searching instead of true creation. Breaking all the boundaries all time may just be a distraction to lead away from the fear you have of connecting with your true creative self.
Finding the Way that Works for you Today
All of these suggestions aim at one thing – helping you find new ways to look at where you are right now with your creative sense of self. Then you can see the choices, darkness or changes ahead as interesting options instead of something to avoid by safely huddling in your comfy rut.
Photo credit: Gene Wilburn