We creatives love ideas. We like them almost as much as art and stationary supplies! We collect them in journals and lists and voice memos to ourselves. We gather them like bundles of gorgeous spring blooms in our outstretched arms, our faces beaming as bright as the sun. Oh, the joy of an abundance of ideas! Yum!
And then we sit down to write a blog post or a book chapter… we get ready to compose a song or a poem… we get set for our next knitting project or dance piece, our e-course or business venture and we look at that whole slew of ideas and we are overwhelmed.
How do we pick from this pile of beauty and possibility?
What if we pick the blue and then we see that someone else had great success with the red?
What if we go right and all of our dreams are left?
What if we miss out or get it wrong or lose?
How do we choose?
First, know that whatever is meant for you is there for you down all roads. If you are a creative heart then every path that calls to you will lead you on a creative adventure. Choose one to answer. Say yes and begin.
Second, understand that it is the very nature of ideas that there are too many – and thank goodness! Can you imagine the paltry pantry of a world filled with only enough ideas for one person to manage easily in one lifetime? What a blessing we are gifted with a world so rich that we could pluck a new idea out of the air every millisecond and there would still be millions, even billions, more.
So make peace with there being more than enough.
Then weed out the shoulds and the ought-tos. Leave only choices that call to your heart.
Then choose.
Choose one and make a start. If it feels like you’re walking in shoes a size too small or a size too big, choose again, but if it feels like, “Yeah, this is good,” even if there’s a bit of a wobble in your step, keep walking. Make friends with this idea and see where it leads. Stop looking over your shoulder at all the ones you left behind. Imagine how that gorgeous idea holding your hand feels when you keep pining and grasping and looking elsewhere.
Trust yourself.
Trust that if you choose an idea that calls to your heart, there is no way to get it wrong.
Be here in this moment with this idea and all that is ready to be created between you.
Make your choice and dance.
Powerful! And so true. Listening to that inner voice and following the energy is the way to go. And having so many ideas is awesome but can also be overwhelming. Going through that right now.
Thank you, Suzie! It’s so amazing and inspiring but also overwhelming! You really have been on fire creatively. I hope you find a rhythm that feels just right to you :)
Thank you Jamie. I really need to hear this today and probably again tomorrow until decisions are made.
I’m so glad it was helpful, Jeanine. Almost always I find I feel much better after making a decision. And if I don’t – I recheck my choice and that usually works! Best of luck with whatever is next for you :)
I have decided to step out of my comfort zone and do my first full size quilt. Everything has been small and wall sized till now. I have spent time picking material, choosing a pattern. It’s a very simple pattern. Now when I should be ready to go I have frozen. I have gone through the process and have decided that I am going to pull out my material and “cut and play” and see what happens. As my husband reminded me the worst that can happen is that all this material does not become a quilt. It something else and I startover on the quilt.
Jamie, this is so insightful and helpful for me today…I’ve made a choice and was agonizing over it until I read your words…whatever is meant for you is there for you down all roads! My mind cleared instantly….thank you!