Shadow work is essential for conquering your creative monsters.
Growing up in the dance and theater world, I have had my share of instructors who made me decide it wasn’t safe to confidently create.
Whether it was a sly comment in replace of constructive criticism on a performance, I unconsciously picked up along the way to “play it safe” as a creator. This manifested itself into creative anxiety for years.
“As young artists, we need and want to be acknowledged for our attempts and efforts as well as for our achievements and triumphs. Unfortunately, many artists never receive this critical early encouragement. As a result, they may not know they are artists at all.”
Julia Cameron
As creators, your creative scar tissue could show up as:
- Inability to let go of ideas that aren’t working
- Uncomfortable letting others take lead on projects ( fear of losing control)
- Blindly believing that all your ideas have to be good ( perfectionism)
- Constantly censoring yourself to speak up during meetings to speak up on new ideas ( anxiety)
- Exhaustion, procrastination, irritability, scattered mind (burnout)
Now it’s time to name your creative monsters. Think back to your childhood situations that are hindering your creative potential. Maybe it’s:
- Creative arts teacher who made a joking comment judgment about your work
- Parents who didn’t support or encourage your talents
- An idea that wasn’t received well / laughed at by others
- Constantly being compared to other students / siblings
Growing up,it’s common for our minds to create defense mechanisms in order to protect ourselves from these hurtful experiences, letting them form into “creative scar tissue. “
We need to conquer the roots of these insecurities that are stopping you from achieving your creative dreams.
This article will guide you to understanding how we become who we are which will prepare you for deeper healing with the provided shadow work journal prompts and activity.
These shadow work exercises were designed to help you replace the negative thoughts with those that affirm your talents and creative career dreams.
1. Understanding How We Become Who Are
“What we call the personality is often a jumble of genuine traits and adopted coping styles that do not reflect our true self at all, but the loss of it.”
Gabor Mate
Dr. Gabor Mate has been spent his career researching the impact of early childhood experiences and his results are groundbreaking in the field of psychology. His findings reveal that we design a version of ourselves during adolescence, people, and the world based on our feelings about what happened during early past experiences.
Even when we grow up and “forget” what may have happened in the past ( ex- photography teacher who laughed at your portfolio) that doesn’t mean that experience still isn’t shaping our behaviors that are impacting our creativity today.
Why do the “small” moments in our past impact our behaviors so much?
Even though these early protection mechanisms ( ex- dropping a creative arts class due to the instructor) are only meant as a temporary fix, they still are hard wired in our brains which create issues later on in life ( lack of creative confidence, fear of losing control, perfectionism, etc.)
Mate reveals that since our basic human expectation is to be nurtured and those moments of not being uplifted in our talents and desires we become “distorted” and learn to adapt to less than what we naturally need.
Our sense of self is constantly being reflected back to us so we can decipher who we are as adolescents whether it’s negative or positive.
Learn more by watching his fascinating interview here
2. Shadow Work Journal Prompts
- Describe a time you were vulnerable with someone trust you and felt rejected. What happened?
- Are there creative goals you feel like you’ll never achieve? Name them & reflect on what makes you think that.
- What do your parents value? How have this influenced your own personal values and decisions you make today?
- Name your triggers and what about them sets you off.
- What did your community look like around you? Describe the jobs, personalities, social class and support system of those around you growing up.
- What support ( and lack of) did you receive to achieve your dreams?
- What kind of classes, groups were you a part? How did those experiences shape your creativity?
- Who were the teachers / instructors in your arts classes? How did they influence your behaviors today?
3. Healing Creative Activity
“It is always necessary to acknowledge creative injuries and grieve them. Otherwise, they become creative scar tissue and block your growth.”
― Julia Cameron, The Artist’s Way Workbook
- Reflect on situations/ people that made you hesitate to speak ideas & create
- Gather images from magazines, old books, etc. that reflect your experience
- After 5- 6 images write a sentence for each image
- Combine them into a poem or story
Outcome :
- You give your creative monsters a name which helps you to understand the root cause of creative insecurities
- Deeper self awareness of the triggers & hesitations that cause you to lack in creative self confidence
- You can begin the healing journey from past traumas releasing the “creative scar tissue” that is stopping your creative confidence
Related: The 4 Best Kept Secrets to Master Creative Confidence