Contributed by Writer Zen Garden Member, Becca Howell.

Most start the new year out with ideas for where they want their lives to go in the coming year.  Creatives are no different.  “This year, I am going to write that book, record that album, open up a successful photography, jewelry making, or insert your business of choice here.”  Just like with some more common goals of the year, I am going to lose weight, get in shape or eat healthier, creatives can lose their steam after a short time.  Life gets in the way, there are other priorities, or several generations were brought up to view creativity as non-essential and therefore, allow other things to take precedence.  According to US and News Report, about 80% of people will quit their New Year’s resolutions about six weeks into the year.  Even more alarming is that January 17, is designated as the National Ditch Your New Year’s Resolution Day. These statistics also apply to creative individuals wanting to achieve their goals.

Fast-forward to the year 2020 about 2 1/2 months in: the world is rocked by Covid-19, an infectious disease that has forced many into different levels of quarantine.  Many creatives may have thought, this is an amazing time for me to achieve the goal that I set forth earlier this year and were excited for the extra time they were given to stay home and be creative since lay-offs were at a record high with businesses closing temporarily to avoid the spread of the virus.  As they began to adapt to this new way of life, a few weeks in, some realized, wow, this is easier said that done as people are dealing with new stressors that they never thought they would have to face in life.  Some creatives are struggling to get a stronghold on their zone and get in the flow of starting and finishing the projects that they have dreamed of completing all year long.  Here are eight strategies to help:

Struggle #1: It is almost impossible to focus on my creativity amidst all that is happening in the world.

Strategy to overcome: Own your mindset.  It’s true that people are dying out there and others are struggling financially as they wait for unemployment to start.  Yes, hospitals are overflowing, and medical professionals are overwrought.  It’s true there are people who ignore the stay at home orders and continue to spread the disease.  Yes, it’s a crazy time.  It is true that you have control over your emotions and how to feel them.  You can choose to wake up each morning and check to see the data: how many new cases, how many fatalities and how close the virus is to you and then remain stuck all day wrought with worry, fear, anxiety, and depression.  Instead, take a moment and close your eyes, breath in your dream and remember the passion you have for what you want to create.  Feel that passion in your heart and whenever you feel the sense of dread, anxiety, fear, depression or panic that you struggle with, repeat that exercise and center yourself knowing you can make a difference with your creation.

Struggle #2:  With everything going on in the world or in life, my creative juices are blocked.

Strategy to overcome:  This is my personal favorite.  The daily brain-dump.  I do this in the morning and carry a small notebook throughout the day to add to it.  I take 10 minutes and just jot down anything that comes to mind.  Not everything I add is creative.  I could add something like – where to get toilet paper?  I might make a sketch.  I might write, it makes me very sad that the world is getting to me at this time and I need to pray for so and so’s mom who tested positive yesterday.  At the end of my brain- dump, I go through and highlight anything that may be of any use to a creative project and try to work that in somehow.  This is an exercise that can be done at any time of day, I just find that I am fresh after a night of sleep and brain processing time.

Struggle #3: I don’t even know what day it is during this crazy time, let alone have any routine to be creative.

Strategy to overcome:  Only you know what the optimum time of day always has been for your creativity.  It might be early morning; it might be late at night or anywhere in between.  That time needs to become your protected time.  You might be more creative after you’ve had a nap, or with a glass of wine, or tea, or after listening to some music or pumping some weights.  You know yourself best.  Decide what time of day is the best for you personally and design a ritual around that time to get yourself to the creative flow.  For the days, you just aren’t there, insist anyway.  This is a date with yourself and you can’t stand yourself up.  For me, I am most creative early in the morning after a solid exercise regiment and meditation and my brain-dump.  Atmosphere is also important to me and I tend to light candles as well as use white pixie lights in my area to keep my mind flowing.  Equally crucial, make it fun.  This is a new adventure you are on and it won’t be something you want to do day after day if it is something you dread.

Struggle #4: With all this extra time on my hands, I should have 100 pages written but I have zilch.

Strategy to overcome:  Give yourself grace.  This most likely is the first time you are experiencing something of this magnitude.  The fact that you have read this far into this article shows that you have intention.  Forgive yourself and scale down your expectations.  Maybe even cross genres.  If you don’t feel like writing that day, instead maybe you feel like painting, coloring, or taking pictures of your surroundings., do it.  No matter what, keep your creative date with yourself and just do something that uses your creative skills in some manner.

Struggle #5: I don’t know where to start.

Strategy to overcome: Decide what your main goal is creatively.  Maybe you want to write a successful blog or open a business where you sell your crafts and art. Brainstorm all the different parts of that goal.  What do you need to do?  What do you need to learn?  What creative content do you need to produce?  What is the biggest thing holding you back?  Break it down into bite sized pieces and put deadlines to those pieces.  During your daily creative dates, take a chunk of one of those pieces and chew it carefully with intent and once its swallowed, you can move on to the next piece of your goal.  Sometimes deadlines won’t be met because you realize that your second step has about 3 more steps to it and those take time.  Give yourself grace and just rescale your vision.

Struggle # 6: I want it to be perfect.

Strategy to overcome: Throw perfectionism to the wind!  This is one of the biggest things that hold creatives back.  Yes, we all want our final product to be the best we have to offer, but don’t let that hinder you from even starting.  Keep a challenge log each day of how you deliberately weren’t perfect in your creativity.  Be intentional about it.

Struggle #7:  I just don’t feel like it because of everything that is going on in the world.

Strategy to overcome:  Review Struggle #1, breathe in your passion, but dig in deeper here.  Why don’t you feel like it?  Is it because you’ve been stress eating since you’ve been quarantined?  Is it because your gym is closed, and you don’t know where to get your wiggles out and your body isn’t used to being as sedentary as it is?  Is it because you are sleeping a different schedule?  Aren’t getting enough rest or broken rest?  Is it because those who live in your home are driving you mad?  You are cooking 3 full meals a day and cleaning for an hour after each one?  Figure out what is eating at you and how you can creatively overcome it with the constraints of whatever your life looks like with the pandemonium the world has tossed you.  It could be as simple as learning to meditate or going out for a daily walk or getting yourself on a more realistic sleep pattern.

Struggle #8 I don’t have the knowledge to do what my creative dream is right now.

Strategy to overcome:  With the world of social distancing, there are more and more individuals starting social media groups dedicated to knowledge sharing and helping one another.  More and more businesses are offering reduced class rates and even a plethora of freebies.  Takelessons.com is offering a free trial of their live classes for all sorts of things.  Udemy often offers classes for as low at $10 if you watch for flash sales, and blueprint is offering free classes through April 9, 2020.  See what’s out there, you may be surprised.

The honest bottom line is that this outbreak is changing the way we have lived for so long and there is a lot of value in that for creatives.  Remember, while many of us come from the generation that creativity is a hobby which holds little value, right now it is those that have creative talents that are entertaining the masses stuck at home.  The world needs beauty, it needs the light, humor, creative distraction, music, television and books. While creativity has been viewed as non-essential for so long, it is swiftly becoming essential at this very moment.  Can you imagine the books, paintings, movies, and digital art that will be quarantine based in the years to come?

Creative, this is your time to shine.