Relentless and Gentle
When to hit it, when to quit it
Last week we talked about how the conditions for creative work are never ideal because, well, Real Life.
The conditions are never ideal because the backdrop of our lives is dynamic. It’s not the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. This week isn’t the same as this week last year or five years ago.
The elements of our lives are always changing.
It’s powerful when we acknowledge that the background is dynamic. You are not a machine. You are a human being. You are going to have different levels of energy, will power, drive, and care on different days.
People, circumstances, emotions, jobs, and energy levels change with the season of life we’re in and so it’s going to feel different in each season. In some seasons we have more bandwidth. In other seasons, there is no “trying harder.” It is about acknowledging what is. It is about being gentle.
And it’s also about being relentless. Relentless in taking teeny tiny steps. Relentless in believing that a little bit is enough. Relentless in believing that finding space in the midst of real life for the things we care about is worthwhile. Relentless in coming back to the work we care about – after life flares, after time away, after laying on the floor like a human puddle.
We’re gentle and we’re relentless – through ups and downs, through stall outs and sprints, through heartbreak and epiphany, through Real Life.
Your creative practice does not have to be the same for your entire lifetime.
Your practice, your project, and your dreams are dynamic. Just like the conditions of your life. They evolve with this season of your life.
The trick is to be relentless and gentle. Relentless with your commitment, gentle with yourself. What does that look like for you today?
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I’m fascinated with your use of relentless in a different way from the aggression that it usually denotes.
Small, tiny steps.
Small, still voice.
It’s almost more persistence…
But there’s a strength, an inevitability to relentless.
Relentless suggests inevitability.
Relentless and gentle sounds hard.
But it also sounds like the only way to persist.
Long enough for the embers of creativity to illuminate and burn bright…
Without burning out the creator.