140. Containers, Not Motivation

If your creative energy feels fragile right now, ask yourself not how to push harder or where to recruit more willpower. Instead, ask yourself what kind of container it's been asked to survive in. 

This episode draws your attention away from motivation and willpower, and towards creating containers where your creativity can grow and expand.

Transcript

140. Containers, not Motivation

 Today I want to talk about commitment. Not productivity. Not motivation. Commitment. Commitment to our creative work, to interchange and to the containers that actually are supporting our transformation. A lot of us are carrying more than usual right now and this kind of moment. I don't believe that we need more information or more opinions. We really need steadiness. And that's what I'd like to offer here today. I am in a season of restraint. And for me, restraint means choosing depth over diffusion and doing too many things. And so this year, I'm not doing more. I'm doing things that are truer. I've eliminated classes at the university, some of my smaller monthly classes, and not because the work isn't meaningful. But because this structure really is no longer matching the level of change that I care about, I am protecting long arcs. I am investing in work that really unfolds slowly, and work that our individual systems and our nervous systems can actually receive. One of the biggest misconceptions about creative work, and especially for thoughtful, creative women, is that we need more motivation. How many times have you thought to yourself, you just need more discipline, or more willpower, or more confidence and self-belief? The creativity doesn't fail us because we're lacking the desire. It fails to show up when it's asked to simply exist without protection. Creativity is relational. It responds to time and space and to containment. I'd like to invite you into a brief reflection. Think about a creative practice that you've been trying to sustain. Not the one you are idolizing, but the one that you actually return to or the one you keep postponing. Knitting. Painting. Baking. Dancing. Playing an instrument. So notice this gently. Where is this practice supposed to live? What time does it get? What kind of structure is protecting your creativity? Now, if your answer is I do it whenever I can. Or if you've answered, I do it when I feel inspired. Or maybe you're one of those, um, people who say, well, once everything else is done, then I will get back to it. That's not a personal failure. If this is what your mind is coming up with. It's really a problem with the container, and the creativity really does need a container. 

If you're new here, I'm Doctor Amy Backos. I'm a psychologist and a registered and board certified art therapist. This is the Modern Creative Woman podcast where we are exploring the art and science of creativity. And today we're talking about what actually supports sustainable transformation for us as individuals. 

Now, the women that I work with aren't necessarily blocked creatively when they show up to work with me. They're overextended. Their creativity is expected to somehow survive on the leftover bits of time or fragmented attention. Constant self negotiation for time will not create a container where creativity can thrive in your life. And then we all wonder why creative expression feels so fragile or fleeting. This is why containers matter. Containers are not restrictive. They are stabilizing. They allow creative work. The time to settle into our body. They allow insight to become real intention for our lives and take practical steps towards the change we want to see in ourselves and our communities. A container also allows creativity to last. It becomes sustained. And this brings me to what I'm holding really centrally this year. For me, it's Paris. Paris is the primary container that I'm offering women. It's the in-person art therapy retreat for women who are ready to step out of this experience of being over functional and into embodying their own creative leadership. And this this is for women who don't need more information, but they need the time, the space, the presence and the witness to reorganize themselves from the inside out. This is sensory work, relational work, neuro aesthetic work. It's being in that room really matters. The environment matters. The body matters. The community. And Paris is not an escape. It's about repositioning ourselves. Alongside Paris. I do offer individual your long containers, and that's essentially for women who are ready for sustained relational, creative change that happens over time. And it's not if you're trying to find a quick breakthrough. This is not about a single insight, and I'm not teaching a scripted. Strategy that is a one size fit all. Year long work allows patterns to surface, stabilize, soften, and allows space and commitment for creativity and the creative process to stabilize in your life. It also allows your identity to shift slowly enough to be able to hold on to the creative practice. And that part is individual work. By design, it's limited by design. It's definitely not for everyone, but it is for women who are ready to meet themselves consistently and be met consistently in their creative lives. Behind the scenes. I am working on my art therapy toolkit and taking myself on a writing retreat next week. So these are not, you know, a new offering. This book is part of consolidating my body of work. So for me, this is a year of refinement, of choosing what is going to carry weight and allow us to make long term, sustained creative choices towards our creativity. And if Paris is calling you in this retreat speaks to you, you'll know you don't need convincing. If a year long individual work is right for you, you're probably already imagining yourself inside this kind of container and imagining what's possible for you. There's no rush, but there is clarity. And clarity asks for your own honesty. So wherever you are, I hope this episode is leaving you with one question. If your creative energy feels fragile right now, ask yourself not how to push harder. Or where to recruit more willpower. Instead, ask yourself what kind of container it's been asked to survive in.