Being in a creative profession can be very exciting and rewarding but inherently comes with its own kind of 'Stress'.
Over 6 years in creative profession has taught me many things, but most importantly the value of 'patience' and 'time'. Every profession involves stress but in a creative line of work it is a bit different. The stress comes with some unique kind of baggages. The smart thing is to master the art of managing it other than carrying it heavy on the shoulders. The constant deadlines, economic uncertainty and most importantly the pressure of producing creative contents can be very daunting at times. You might feel overwhelmed between so much to get done and not enough time to do it. Between calling and knocking for opportunities to creating contents, keeping up with social media, networking and everything else in your jam-packed schedule, it’d be a miracle to escape all the stress. Starting from producing to marketing and managing the entire process specially if you are a startup or an emerging artist or from any other creative line of profession, trust me I hear you. It can be very exhausting altogether. To a point, where you may feel that you are at the edge of melting down.
Things to remember in such circumstance is that 'Stress' is not a constant state and neither the situation! It does not have the power to control your career or emotions.
Don’t add more to your schedule if its costing your sanity and creativity. Yes, you read that right! There will always be more opportunities down the road. You are only human, and pushing yourself beyond your limits isn’t going to help anything.Therefore, overworking yourself and draining energy will be a waste. The best thing is to remember the fact that, being a creative person is a privilege to enjoy and love what you do best. You are actually making a living out of your passion. Having your own business in a creative world provides you with a lot of freedom and excitement while following your dreams. If you put things into perspective, you would come to realize the fact why you choose to be in this profession at the first place.
The best therapy is to accept the stress as a challenge and to trust your ability to grow from it! Learn as much as possible from the challenge and use it as a strength.
Traveling, reading blogs, biographies of artist and their struggle, attending workshops and seminars would help you learn and at the same give an insight of the creative industry. It definitely plays a role to stay calm, grounded and cultivate inner creativity. Focusing on self improvement and not comparing own work with others is very important thing to remember. Believing in own work, without any self doubts is the key to remove all the negativity that may be stressing you. Celebrate your own victories and realize that comparisons may only stifle your creative journey. If opportunities are not coming on your way even after trying, then maybe its time to re-evaluate your approach. Remember it is all about time and patience.Never get down on yourself.
There is a world of opportunities out there, you just need to figure out the right approach.
Sometimes focusing on the business side of work may take a toll in your creativity. Multitasking can be very hard and stressing in some situations. If you plan on making a living from your work, you can’t ignore the business side of the things. The disorganization may may give rise to multiple problems one to another and before you figure out you get swallowed by stress. To handle such situations ask for help. If you are a growing business you may take interns to help you in organizing work or if you can afford then get some creative assistance. In the time of ubiquitous smartphones and ipads, social media presence is an essential weapon for every creative business. Making most of the digital platform is an ideal move. Then again, managing multiple social media platforms on a daily basis can be very stressful and draining. Networking, engaging and creating content becomes another challenge. To a point where you would sit and think which one to prioritize first the work itself or the brand image you are about to establish. So if this is the case, that is giving you stress. Think smart! There are some great tools to manage multiple social media accounts and apps to help you develop creative contents. In this case, Google has plenty of answers to this stress. You just need to sit down and figure out exactly, what kind of help you may need that will help to reduce your work load.
Always remember 'Stress' is inevitable in every creative line of work. Especially, when you own the business. But not if you enjoy and learn to handle things smartly! Try to find a creative solution of your 'Stress' and learn to cruise through the journey!