Ah, you’re here … where you’ve done the inner work, the deeper work and the creative work. And now? Now you must create a beautiful foundation to sustain this work, by honouring your body to fuel your creativity, energy and mindset.
Think of these next few chapters as a toolkit for supporting your focus, activating and restoring your energy, uplifting your mindset, and cultivating deeper habits for self-nourishment and sustainable creativity.
When it comes to being aligned and unstoppable, we have to look at—and look after—all parts of our being. When we focus on our physical, mental, emotional and spiritual wellness, we focus on what energises us so we can do our best work, in all areas of our lives.
When you’re putting yourself into your work, and when you’re putting your work out there, you have to be clear in mind, body, spirit and soul, and this means looking after yourself on every level.
You will become a better channel and vessel for your work when you’re energetically clear, when you slow down and look after yourself, and when you trust that—no matter how much ‘work’ you’ve gotten done—you’re still enough, and are always allowed to rest when you need it. (And even before you need it.)
There’s a rhythm to how you create. Some days the rhythm shows up in full force, in flow, and sometimes it shows up by asking you to slow down and work less. If you try to push through and ignore the rhythm, you can burn out, you can fall out of love with your work, and you can think you’re never doing enough.
When I was studying make-up, my teacher once scolded me for finishing a make-up look too quickly. ‘Did I do it incorrectly? Does it not look good? Am I on the wrong track with it?’ I asked. My teacher shook her head. While it looked great, by her standards I’d gone too quickly.
I couldn’t understand this logic. If I’d done a crappy job, if the foundation had been the wrong shade, the eyeliner wobbly, the eye shadow not blended well, the lashes clumpy and the eyebrows wonky, sure, scold me for rushing. But the truth is, the make-up was great and I hadn’t rushed. I just work quickly.
That pace only ever served to help me during my make-up career in fashion and beauty, and when doing make-up for private clients. No-one wants a slow make-up artist behind the scenes of a fashion show; or doing make-up for eight people before a wedding; or at a shoot when there are several hair and make-up looks to create and shoot in just a few hours.
Years after that make-up class, I still remembered my teacher’s words and obvious annoyance. But I didn’t listen to her, because I was simply honouring my own rhythm.
Likewise, when at school I used to be one of the first in my year to finish writing exams. I’d finish the paper, go back from the beginning to check my answers, then put my head down on my desk and rest—sometimes for 45 minutes before the exam ended. I wasn’t rushing. I hadn’t left out any questions. I hadn’t skimped on my essay, or written short answers for long questions. I was simply honouring my own rhythm.
When I go to art classes, I often finish my paintings before others in my class. The last time I attended art class, I painted five canvases (some oil, some acrylic) in one term of art, when most of my art friends painted one canvas. I wasn’t doing a bad job or not finishing my art. I wasn’t getting bored before I’d finished. I was simply honouring my own rhythm.
Of course there have been times when I’ve rushed my work, but I’ve discovered that the more you honour your own rhythm—while trusting in divine timing, in the bigger picture, and in your greater vision—the less you rush your art, and the less you burn out on your way to creating. This allows you to create and release with pace, without feeling a need to rush.
Let’s start honouring our natural rhythms and cycles. You might go slowly, and need time. You might go faster, sprinting to the finish line. You might do both, depending on what you’re working on, or yo-yo between the two. Don’t judge how you create; celebrate that you do create.
Soon we’ll talk about honouring your rhythm on a different level to avoid burnout, but what I’m talking about here is following and honouring the rhythm of your creativity.
I find that each project I work on has an energy, a rhythm, a cycle to follow. Each book I’ve written has had its own timeline that it whispers to me between the pages I write; each online course I’ve created has its own rhythm that it communicates to me through scribbled brainstorming sessions in my notebook; each workshop I’ve held has its own cycle, from conceiving it, to planning it, to creating it, to practising it, to teaching it.
Each piece of work you create, everything you make, will have its own energy, cycle, rhythm, timing and feel. You need to honour this, so that you’re creating in—and with—alignment.
To do this, you simply need to listen. Listen to your body, to your guidance, and to the work you’re creating. If you listen, it’ll tell you when it’s ready to be made and when it needs a break (or when it needs you to have a break). It’ll tell you when you need a day off, when you need to put it to the side, and when you need to sit down, tune in, turn your phone off and do the work.
It’ll tell you its timeline too. As I’ve mentioned, my books start coming to me in drips, sentences here and there, that I hurriedly type into an Evernote folder (each book has its own ‘Notebook’ in Evernote) before I forget, before it leaves me. I do this for a while—for as long as the book wants me to—until I know it’s time to start writing it. I know when it’s time to start writing, because all of sudden, I can’t not write it. It’s an urge that comes through asking me to do the work, because I need to.
We can do the work when we need and want to, but we also have to allow ourselves to truly rest and restore in between.
In the early years of my business, I’d rest and restore in short, sharp breaks with the focused intention of restoring my energy, so that I could work again (and often, harder). I remember having a mentoring session with an energy healer and coach who suggested I rest and restore for my energy’s sake, and not with the intention of restoring it just to create more. I could restore my energy, to restore my energy.
This simple mindset shift changed the way I work. I stopped thinking I had to refuel, simply to go faster and harder. I started to refuel for myself, honouring my own rhythm in a more aligned and more purposeful way. This was one of the first steps I took to heal from the burnout I was creating within myself and my life.
To honour your own rhythm:
I honour the rhythm of what and how I create, letting myself stop and refuel, to fully support myself and my dreams.