Here I am again… I’m sure I’m not alone here… Flat. Discouraged. Disconnected. Apathetic. I’m sure you can relate to a moment where you just didn’t feel at your best. We’ve all been there, this past year this residence housed my heart and hijacked my thoughts – regularly. Nobody wants to admit they’ve not got it all together and we tell ourselves we’ll be fine, pushing our funk further down. I desperately didn’t want to admit it but, here I am, in a funk. And when I recognised this I found some incredible gems.
You only have to look at the Psalms to see the up and down emotional nature of Creatives. It’s hard to find balance in the light and shade of our weeks, and if we’re honest sometimes the best creativity comes from the dark corners of ourselves. Nonetheless, we weren’t designed to dwell in that place forever. Deserts and darkness are not forever locations, whilst God does some of His best work in those temporary seasons, our funk isn’t there to override who we are or derailing who we can be. We are designed to live life and live to the full… so when life looks a little less than desired or we’re feeling the pressures building how can we fix our funk?
From my own personal experience it is important to know how you work: what gives you energy, what drains you; what brings you fulfilment and what triggers cause you to enter into a downward spiral. Sometimes we aren’t even aware we are heading downward until we are either a wreck or we snap at someone unintentionally. We are like icebergs, in that what you show someone is only the tip of what lies beneath. Likewise your team members, family and friends won’t accurately reveal their whole picture, there’s always more undercurrent than we are aware of.
I found it really helpful to take some time to sit down and work out what gives me joy or helps me keep on track and inadvertently become aware of what might be missing when I’ve hit a low point. So grab your journal and start asking a few questions of yourself and God. What do I do that brings me joy? When I don’t have [insert your thing here] in my life I loose joy. What is something I can’t live without? Is my health in check? Do I need more down time? Do I need more time with other people? Is my environment impacting me, and how? Set out to write down 3-5 things and extend on it as more clarification comes to mind. Because we all operate differently my things might not work for you and vice versa… however, here are some practical ways to get your started if you’re not quite sure where to begin! Who knows, they might resonate with you, in which case feel free to adopt them in your own walk!
Worship
When we worship we magnify God, which means there’s no room left for the rest of “all that”. Worship with music has the power to refocus and rest your mind. When we align our heart with His, we step into a neutral zone of surrender. When we give things over the weight is not only lighter but we have more strength to conquer and move forward. Worship also articulates words we might not be able to express due to our circumstance or state of our heart. I’ve developed a habit of allowing music to affect me, no matter where I am when I put on worship music (for want of another term!) I instantly enter into a space and stance of connection with God. I make the choice to start the conversation immediately, none of the hype, none of the warming up. I’m not wasting my precious time with internal battles, its been learning an art of surrender over the years, and I am grateful for the instant change this has brought on days when things just don’t seem right or I’m on top of the world praising God. Worship alters the state of your heart if you let it, so sweet one, surrender completely. Let God interrupt your world and set you in the right direction again – away from your funk.
Time to Decompress
Processing our environment and emotions is an important life skill. When we leave feelings unattended they can breed a toxic thought life or we can overreact to simpler things. I find journalling really, really helpful. With two kids though, this can be really hard to keep up so I have to intentionally calve out time to journal. It’s not limited to writing out my thoughts, sometimes decompressing takes the form of a verbal dialogue while I’m driving with God or my husband. Sometimes decompressing is found in outpouring creatively in blogging, writing songs, poetry. And sometimes it’s creating room for emptying out my thought life uninterrupted in activities requiring little head space. I love painting, creative projects or gardening and when I have those elements in my life I realise the importance of stopping to listen to myself and to God, which I’ve found only brings good into my life.
Sabbath
I think I have underestimated the command to rest and being obedient in finding the place of pause. We live in a go, go, go world. Just being is underrated and overlooked. I’ve been learning (the hard way) how much we need to create opportunity in our schedules for nothingness and for rest. When I don’t have rest my body goes into shut down mode, and I am so sure I am not alone in this. We need to be wise with how we expend ourselves so we can last the distance. I want to make sure I am still going at all cylinders in the latter seasons of my life. I don’t want to have run so hard and ignored what God has been telling me all along and miss out onside great chapters of my life because I didn’t steward my yes or use my no well. Find your sabbath babe, and don’t run so hard you can’t stop or are forced to halt in your prime.
Wide Open Spaces
When I get in my car and drive out to the highway and see the blue horizon I feel an instant release. I audibly sigh and breathe in deeper and can tangibly feel my ordinary wash off me. Environment circuit breakers are so pertinent to longevity in ministry, or life really. Combine getting out of your reality with nature and you’ll find a new pace of breath which fills you deeply. I am not a fan of being in the full sun, and not a fan of sweating it out – but maybe you are, maybe an all day hike or sitting at the beach in the sun is your jam. Find the place you feel most connected to Him and go there, often.
There are so many elements to what makes up our fundamentals, stay tuned sweet one I’ve got some more ways to encourage you next time…
To be continued…
Side note: If this is all new to you, you might find it helpful to take a few minutes and do a personality test. I’ve found one here based on Myers Briggs, which has been so insightful to who I am. It doesn’t box you (or others when you start to see they too fit so well to the description!) but it is a helpful insight into how when we are healthy we can operate and how when we are unhealthy we can toxify our relationships or life.