Here’s to 2021.
When we’re reaching the one year mark of being on complete lockdown, it’s easy to lose that drive we had for shooting and expressing your creativity through the arts in general. It’s understandable, but avoidable as well, so we’ve put together advice for ways to keep yourself motivated and hit the ground running stronger than ever.
Through putting together creatives for the past three years and holding together an impregnable community, we’ve learned that, although we can’t have our regular meetups, we can do a lot we’ve never been able to do. With that gratitude, we are now sharing more with our readers. Having said that, here are a few ways MPS is sharing to make the best use of lockdown and keep your responsibility as a young creative:
01. If lockdown was everything, do anything.
Ask yourself, if you were on lockdown from now all the way into an unforeseeable future, would you rather be sitting and waiting to get the creative opportunities, or test your ability to be a creative, and make those opportunities? Before anything, you have to change your mindset to a viewpoint where you are treating this time like the new normal, and adapt. It’s tough, but it makes being a creative worth it.
02. Choose between two options.
You have two options on how to use this time--keep doing what you’re doing in the same area, or use it to try something new. Either way, you’ll grow, but the best thing you can do for yourself is to pick a track from here on out and use it to your benefit. For example, if you’d like to continue what you started with photography, go for it. If you’d like to continue what you started with modeling, go for it. But if you’d like to try producing or music, or writing or acting, go for it just the same. It’s so important to expand your horizons, and especially if you’re lacking the drive to what you’ve been working on, it’s time to switch it up.
03. Switching it up.
Having said that, if you’re losing the passion you had prior to lockdown, take that as a sign. Lockdown is a perfect time for introspection, and learning yourself. If you were only in photography because you found the perfect spot outside the local deli to shoot pre-covid with friends, then you’d have to think about if that’s really you. Would you only write when something inspired you, and can you go more than a few days without writing? If not, then you have to rethink. And that’s perfectly okay--more than okay. Use what lockdown’s providing you, which is more than often looked over. You could be right about everything, but the beauty of this time is you could also be wrong. Take that in a good light, and you’re one step closer than you think you are!
04. Get organized.
No matter what area you work in, taking the benefit of this time to find (or rework) a system that you use for organization could be extremely advantageous to your overall performance. Everyone works differently, whether you’re creating a digital method on your Mac calendar, or just creating a to do list for the week, do something that gets you together and helps you out. Stay around for a future article coming soon on different ways to get you organized and performing at your best.
05. Understand the Situation
For those of you who feel a little lost because of the backlash of the virus, switch off the news just for a few extra minutes every day and focus on what makes you happy. Find that middle spot where the balance of staying informed and taking care of yourself and what you create stays strong.
06. Don’t overthink it.
One of the most common things anyone can do is simply start to fear where the future of what they create is going, and would it be enough. If you are a photographer and feel like writing a short story, do it. If you are a model and think you never want to model again, there is no one saying you have to. This can be especially challenging when you have a growing and extensive audience counting on you. Give yourself that, which leads onto my next point.
06. Just wait.
There’ll always be a time, where you’re wondering about your followers, and everything you have to do, but don’t know where to begin. Take one step. That’s all you’ll ever need. Being a creative doesn’t have to mean everything to everyone, you don’t owe yourself that.
You owe yourself three hundred sixty five days at a time. You just owe yourself one.
And then the rest will just follow, and before you know it, you’ll have it all figured out.
So let’s break into 2021 stronger than ever.
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