Establishing a creative outlet

If I only had more time, I'd write a book.

If I didn't have to (pick one) put food on the table, pay the rent/mortgage, or put the kids through school, I'd be (pick one) an actor, a painter, or a musician.

How many times, have we all caught ourselves rationalizing our choices and blaming our jobs for our unfulfilled creative aspirations? It doesn't have to be that way. Fear, parental expectations and real-life responsibilities all play a role in stifling people's creative potential. But it's possible to be both practical and creative -- to, as author-artist Carol Lloyd says, "create a life worth living." Creating a Life Worth Living: A Practical Course in Career Design for Artists, Innovators and Others Aspiring to a Creative Life (HarperPerennial, 1998, $14) is the title of her new book, and of the workshops she gives in San Francisco. People are hungry for creative outlets, said Lloyd, herself a self-described struggling artist who has explored experimental theater, modern dance and writing. "My sense is for every person who ever tells anyone else about (their creative aspirations) there are 10 others who don't tell anyone." People often don't admit their ambitions for fear of looking foolish, or failing, or ruining the fantasy. Instead, people often choose careers based on their ability to earn a "decent" living, she said. "But that's a completely subjective term. It doesn't matter if you're earning a decent living if you hate what you're doing eight hours a day." And often people who make those choices early on discover that their latent artistic ambitions don't go away. "It's like a ghost haunting you, or a love affair that you can't get over," she said. "Until you do something about it, you won't move through it." Having a fulfilling creative life while still earning a living isn't an all-or-nothing proposition, she said. "You start to layer in, weave into your life new strains." That could mean taking evening classes, getting involved in local arts groups, attending readings, lectures, gallery openings, or concerts. Volunteer to help with productions, or set up writing groups to make contacts and friends in the arts community. The goal is to nudge your creativity out of hiding and build a network of people who are trying to do similar things. Hearing their struggles and successes helps put your own into perspective. But all the support and creative input in the world won't make a difference if you don't commit to your own creativity, she said. Lloyd recommends people spend 15 minutes in the morning just to think about or explore those ideas. "People tend to think about (their creative hopes) on vacation -- they don't give it any regular time," she said. "It needs regular time." Doing it in the morning gives your unconscious mind a chance to chew on your ideas all day. Which brings us back to the day job. People make the mistake of biding their time in jobs they hate, hoping some magic time will open up in the future, she said. "But the best way to make an intolerable job tolerable is to start stealing back part of the time from your job." Not literally. "I'm not saying write your novel at work," she said. "Get up half an hour early and do whatever inspires you creatively." As you explore your creativity, you can simultaneously begin setting goals for how to restructure your career to better fit your artistic needs. Some people choose jobs that put them in touch with people in their field of artistic interest, even if they're not actually using those artistic skills. Some prefer jobs that allow them to practice their artistic skills even if they're doing them in the service of someone else. Still others go what Lloyd calls the "no contest" route. These are the traditional starving artist jobs -- waiting tables, driving a taxi and telemarketing -- jobs that never compete with your dreams and give you flexibility. Yet another type of job some struggling artists pursue is the "counterbalance" job, a completely different occupation that provides some relief and perspective from the artistic endeavor. Some artists find that their other lives as engineers, teachers, social workers, engineers or laborers give them the material that feeds their creative impulses.

Copyright 1998
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