Discipline vs Chaos - stop it.

Committing to that 'desired' aesthetic of burning the candle at both ends to live and die for your work-
​gets you burnt twice.
​
Me, I said that staring at you who is working too hard.

"I decided to become an artist when I was about your age. I liked to draw so much, I almost hated to go to bed. And then one day, all of a sudden, I couldn't draw anything. Everything I drew, I didn't like. I realized that my art up to then was a copy of someone else, things I had seen somewhere. I decided I had to discover my own style. It's still difficult. But then, the results...They seem to be a little better than before."
​
- Ursula explaining her picture to Kiki

I love you Ursula.

Also Studio Ghibli - incredible.
The best kind of film to put to on to slow the day down and land somewhere beautiful.

Do you think of this trope when you hear someone say they are an artist or creative:

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A starving artist is an artist who sacrifices material well-being in order to focus on their artwork. They typically live on minimum expenses, either for a lack of business or because all their disposable income goes toward art projects. Related terms include starving actor and starving musician. - Wiki.

Do you know what disability stopped me doing?

Burning the candle at both fuckin ends.
I literally can't.
​My body can't cope with it anymore.
I remember the moment I realised I couldn't 'do it like I used to' - I mean, there's been a few - but one in particular was midway through the last set design I did. I was laid up on the sofa and all my joints weren't working properly and I was trying to get ready for another day of hard physical labour and my Dad caught me and told me to lay back down.
I would not have finished that last set without the help of family at all.

I force myself to clock off.
Take breaks.
​Even though I love what I'm doing.

​I know 'burn out'.
It's not pretty at all.
It looks like this - and worse.

But I think there's only so much that can be gained from bringing vulnerability in the form of a picture to a blog post.

Learn to slow down before life forces you to.

This is not a bid to say
Stop having fun
Stop being spontaneous
Stop being young
Stop anything joyful - or whatever else your brain is trying to read instead.

It's me saying to anybody who might need to hear it:
You have permission to slow down.
Slow sustainable growth beats burn out every, single time.

100 ways to take a break

Mailing List for that slow content vibe