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Losing Your Artistic Drive – How to Overcome Wanting to Quit

Artists from all around the world, of all ages, and of all mediums have faced one common enemy; losing artistic drive. Whether it be not wanting to pick up a paintbrush, or not wanting to pick up a camera, losing your artistic drive or creativity is something extremely hard to recover from.

More than us artists would like to admit, things do come up in our careers that make us doubt everything that we have ever done or worked on. Sometimes it’s criticism from someone we look up to, while sometimes it is a crippling self doubt that our art isn’t worth anybody’s time or money. However there are things every artist can do that aid in getting through the storm of self doubt and pessimism.

Your art is yours, and you should do what you love for one person only; yourself.

Take your time (but never quit).

Give yourself some time off. Sometimes allowing yourself a cooling off period helps you to calm down, and take a step back from your current point of view. When you’re throwing yourself into your work and a road block comes up, it can jolt you, but taking the time to relax and acknowledge the feelings that come with that allows you time to heal. However; never stop creating. After a short amount of time designated as your break, start back up. Start small if you’re still feeling down on yourself or your art, and work your way back up. Give yourself a small amount of time scheduled every day or week so that you can continue working on your craft.  It can be very easy to put down your work and never pick it back up, but with a designated break that you hold yourself to, it can be a little easier to get back into the swing of things.

Know creativity sometimes hibernates; but it never dies.

You are not one day the most creative and amazing artist, then the next, an awful one with no inspiration to do anything ever again. If you have had creativity and inspiration before, then you know that you have it somewhere deep inside of you. When you’re on a upswing with your art, it’s easily accessible, and easy to feel like you are on top of the world. When you feel like it’s not there, you just have to dig a little harder. It’s never truly gone, and just like animals coming out of hibernation, your motivation to create art will come back soon better than ever, if you give it a little bit of time and love.

Your opinion of yourself is all that matters.

A sad number of times I’ve seen people flat out quit their art because they do not receive a lot of validation, praise, or attention for what they do. While all of those things are amazing and help you know that you’re doing something that is worth your time, they are not at the core of what matters. You have to get back to caring the most of what you think. Pleasing yourself and making yourself proud of what you are creating should be on the top of your list. Your art is yours, and you should do what you love for one person only; yourself. If you’re proud of yourself, confidence will shortly follow, and people will fall in line with your attitude. This can be the hardest step; being an artist that is aesthetically pleasing, versatile, and unique- while also staying true to your own style and being proud/happy of your work is a difficult balancing act.  Start by prioritizing your own needs/want, to make yourself happy, then slowly expanding to include other important aspects such as customer wants and general aesthetic. The happiness you acquire in putting yourself first will make everything else come easier and be more pleasing.

Overall, just know that your art matters, no matter what. Even on the darkest days of being an artist where it feels like you’re going nowhere, or that your art is pointless; know that soon, if you keep on going through the storm that is lack of artistic drive, you will find the same love and passion for your medium that you had at one time. It may take longer than you would like, but it will always return.  When it does, you will be able to look back on your struggle and find pride in not quitting. If you have quit, then come back, be extremely proud as well. People are quick to judge artists, but not try to understand how hard creating things that are both appealing for others while making your own self proud can be. Continue through the storm, and come out even better than you were before.

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