Control.

Control.

Don’t let the enemy win. Yes, in the midst of my very busy schedule lately I ALWAYS find time for me and God to connect and reflect. I have to. It is a part of me that I have learned to compromise about. The compromise meaning to slow down and allow yourself to be calm.

I came across a scripture that really resonated with my spirit and the overall message was

Tips for Balancing Your Artistic Duality

Tips for Balancing Your Artistic Duality #1
“Your Artistic Routine”

 While doing some research this week, I came across a fantastic read from the American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA). AIGA is the Professional Association for Design. This article “5 Reasons Your 9-to-5 Routine Is Killing Your Creativity” brought to the surface the stigmas surrounding working your daily job and trying to stay artistically abreast.

The biggest takeaway I found to be the most helpful was the practice of creating a routine. Creating a routine is an incredibly efficient way to maximize your creativity. YES–the term “routine” brings forth the anxiety of repetitiveness. In the general sense, there are many similarities; however, effectively developing a Mind+Body day-to-day check-in. For example, taking time to be alone and prepping for your mental journey.

Take time to plan out a schedule for yourself that equally distributes energy for your work hours and artistic practices.

CHECK OUT THE ARTICLE HERE: http://www.aiga.org/5-ways-your-9-to-5-routine-is-killing-creativity/

LOOK OUT FOR WEEKLY TIPS!

Artistically Yours,
Keep Calm and Create On

Decisions, Decisions.

Decisions, Decisions.

QUICK! You just got offered a gig and you need to take two days in a row off from work and you are in the middle of a financial deadline that is due on the final day of shooting…what should you do?? Oh, did I forget to mention that this role is for a featured walk-on you have been auditioning and trying to get for about 4 or 5 months!?

This happens all the time. Having to decide between the duality of your job and your craft. It is exhausting and stressful, no doubt about it. I mean, in general, you have to ask yourself if a two-day gig is worth you possibly losing your job with your decent salary. Or sometimes we are plagued with having to choose between one gig over the other. In the end, you have to decide what is best for you. I always tell myself that if I was given this one opportunity, then another one will come. And that applies to both jobs and your craft. And hey, it applies to the people you cherish as well. You may have to make decisions that in the end doesn’t benefit the both of you, but it’s what’s for the best.

One of the hardest talks I have ever had was

Fear.

Fear.

Let’s be cliché and name some of the quotes and artists that have spoken against the bounds of fear:

“The only thing we have to fear is fear itself”- Franklin D. Roosevelt

“The mark of fear is not easily removed”- Ernest Gaines

“Don’t let the fear of striking out hold you back”-Babe Ruth

     Even the word of the Lord says ‘we are not given the spirit of fear’. But let’s look at the power of fear for one moment. Granted when you think of power, you think of control and possession and automatically fear is a negative. But oh contraire, fear is a tool of master manipulation and if executed properly can be quite the motivator. 

Fear and being scared are one in the same. They both ignite heighten moods, increased swings of anxiety, nausea—I can go on and on. Am I right? But let’s look at that anxiety as …a push. I am petrified to put myself too far out there as a performer because what happens if I am not as good as I think I am? Or as skilled as I thought I was trained to be? What if all of my rejections were “the universe” telling me that this is NOT what I am supposed to be doing?! What if!?

Oh will you look at the “power” of fear! What I am learning to fear is not the possibility of failure but the regret of not seeking out another opportunity. Instead of letting fear keep you away from standing…let it scare you away from sitting. Literally, ‘flip the script’ on fear.

© Keep Calm and Create On, Brittney Simone Harris