Since March, we’ve all had our lives and our expectations, not to mention our emotions, shaken. From sleepy and sad to hyper and positive, COVID has our emotions running the gamut, sometimes in the same hour. Now, work is starting to come back but there’s no need to panic or to try to regain some sort of pre-COVID normal.
It’s time to take a look inside ourselves and attempt to find out where you are now and what you need to be ready. Here are some suggestions for ways you can make that happen.
1. Set creative intentions.
The past months have been primarily about survival and, as we’re far from the end of this pandemic, this will most likely remain the focus. Your intentions in the recent past may have had more to do with trying not to eat five boxes of cookies. However, art is coming back and it’s time to focus on creativity. One way to do this is to set a creative intention every day and commit to fulfilling it.
I’m a huge fan of intention in work and life. I’ve seen time and time again that energy follows attention and nothing focuses our attention more than a strong intent. Today I intend: to work on my focus, to read 50 pages of a book, to inspire someone with my art, to surprise myself by going beyond an old limitation, to listen to podcasts about creativity, to write two pages about a 95-year-old Haitian immigrant woman who makes seashell jewelry on Virginia Beach–or another topic or life about which you know nothing.
At the end of the day, look back and see how you did and how you grew artistically. If you were easily distracted, maybe make the intention for the next day to work on your concentration and persistence. Orienting your days back to acting is much easier with clear intentions.
A Talent Manager on Navigating Work in the New COVID-19 Landscape 2. Choose areas to strengthen.
Many of you did some soul searching when in quarantine, I’m sure. What did you find? Hopefully, you grew to appreciate what you do so well. But did anything come up that you felt you could strengthen? If so, it can be a good idea to focus on one quality each day that you already consider a strength and work on making it stronger and one that you feel may be holding you back and work on making it a strength. The balance is important or you can just wind up punishing yourself.
So along with working on expanding your already vibrant sense of creativity, you might also want to work on your mindfulness and moment to moment presence, which may not be as inspired as your creativity. Care about each part of yourself equally as you do this work, there is no good or bad. Let your strongest artistic qualities get stronger and lift up the rest of your creative being. In this way, you’ll become a stronger, more focused, and aware human being and artist.
3. Wake your creative energy.
With not much searching or insight, you can find where you feel flat, tired, and heavy. You also probably have no problem describing these feelings to others. But what about the more positively felt states of being? Happiness, joy, passion, and creativity? They need your attention as well, especially if you want to change your default energy from dull to bright.
Start with the body. An easy way to start this process is to go through a body and breath scan. Start at the top of your head and explore the feelings in each part of your body all the way down to your toes. Take your time and note all of the sensations taking place. Also, notice your breath and how it changes as you explore the different areas. Where does creativity live in your body? In the heart center, the upper chest, lower back, hips? Many times when artists feel blocked creatively, it’s because they’re holding tension in the spot or spots of their body where creativity normally lives. Go to those places and let go of the holding and allow the tension to dissolve by breathing deeply and giving in to gravity. Let your creativity be uncovered and put back to work.
Following these steps and any others that you can think of, will help you begin the journey of regaining your creative energy. The chances of you having a job getting opportunities are much greater than they were just a month or so ago, so while you want to take your re-entry at your pace, stay on point. You’ll be back as a fresher more creative artist before you know it.
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and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Backstage or its staff.
