Patty Mayeux Blog

What do you do when you get stymied? You’re deep in a project, loving the state of flow and bam! something stops you or slows up your roll. Sometimes pushing through is the answer. Other times, you get a sense you are wasting your time and it’s best to move on to something else. What to do when your creative current gets blocked and you are going nowhere fast? I give myself permission to go off task and engage in anything unrelated to my work-in-progress. Taking a quick walk infuses my senses with new gems. Reading educational books fills my brain with innovative ideas. Playing at music or sewing or even cooking gives me a sense of success. The frivolous redirect can point me away from the dam that clogs the creative flow. If there’s time, an artist’s date is effective, as suggested by Julia Cameron in The Artist’s Way. I take notice of colors, combinations, and connections while treating my inner child to an afternoon at a museum, a fabric store, or a local park. It’s fun. It’s playing hooky. But it’s more than that. It refreshes and energizes, preparing me to return to the number one task, flowing and going.