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Apr 7, 2023Liked by Stephanie Bachmair

I'm thinking about the false dichotomy between working for money and being creative. I want to explore this because otherwise I just end up giving myself a hard time and feeling regretful about not following my creative spark enough. I want to back myself for my decisions to 'work for money', because it is much more than just working for money. I rarely have ever just 'worked for money', but when I have, it has been for a goal that was worth a little suffering! And I don't want to pretend that I don't need money. But taking jobs has been more about the certainty of regular money while doing something worthwhile, in a structured and supported way. I feel I need to be more humble and accepting about my need for that.

I have struggled to make a living from my creativity, though I also feel that I live my creativity in everything I do. But there is still a fire burning in me to bring some creative projects to life that have not yet seen the light of day. I see that I don't need to drop everything, throw certainty of income away to do these. I can look to other reasons why I don't do them, procrastination and fear being number one!! Maybe one day, when I have given them legs, I will learn how to bring them out more fully, and perhaps they will bring me some income. Perhaps generosity has to start with me being more generous to all these different parts of myself.

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dear penny, I love to read your lines. It relieves a bit of my inner tension between giving space to creativity and the need to go for money earning. I love your conclusion to be more generous with all these parts ... and yeah, what I also chew further is ... when I learn to bring creativity out more fully, will it then also generate income? when I read it, I want to say loudly YES of course it will and at the same time I know that this needs courage and trust. I need to let go of things to create some space for eg a book that wants to be further written. By the way, I am curious to hear what your 'hidden creative projects' are? maybe we can support each other to bring some of it into the light ;)

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