Things I am letting go in 2024 as a creative
Yes, I might be a little late to the party writing this blogpost at the beginning of April, but in my defense: this year has flown by! After spending January traveling through Cambodia and Thailand and finally getting some much needed recharge time, I feel like I am only starting to grasp how many things I want to let go as a creative in 2024.
It’s my fourth year of being a full-time photographer and content creator (hooray!) and I wouldn’t change it for the world. I am in the very fortunate position to be able to create my own dream job on a daily basis, but as it is with every job, it comes with its own set of challenges.
Right when I took the step to go full-time, the pandemic hit. The increased financial instability that came with this meant I had some choices to make if I wanted to keep my business afloat and I am quite proud to have made it through in one piece. Still, during this period where my enthusiasm was met with a world-wide stillstand, I struggled a lot. And I feel like I am only starting to let this go, to trust myself and stop questioning myself all the time.
I pretty much became a workaholic, and to some extent, I still am. I feel it’s incredibly hard not to work when you truly love what you do and your head is constantly filled with ideas that are like a itch in your brain. But I am slowly starting to learn how to better manage my mental health, my own needs, friendships, relationships and the huge mountain of laundry, that has accumulated and taken over my bedroom. When it comes to the latter, I cannot tell you any success story unfortunately.
Hopefully, my little list will also help you to let a few things go that aren’t serving you anymore. Let’s jump right in!
Self restriction
Wow, that’s a big one. For quite some time I stayed in my lane, did the work I was used to and got booked for, but was way too afraid to fail with my more daring ideas. This meant shooting more self-portraits, incorporating more DIYs and generally investing way more time into my projects. Since I felt pretty stressed most of the time, I didn't feel like I could take the time to go into more time intensive projects, so I restricted myself and pretty much burned myself out, not challenging myself creatively.
It can be so hard to find the middle ground between doing work that excites you and work you get paid for. For so many projects and I am very luckily that these two aspects come together nicely, sometimes they don’t.
And that’s totally ok.
But this shouldn’t mean that you can’t take the time to stretch yourself creatively. Just because people talk about a clear position as an artist, USPs (unique selling point) and all that marketing talk, doesn’t mean you can’t experiment. In fact, you should.
Big talk from someone who’s only starting to let this aspect go. With every project I’ve allowed myself to try - and possible fail - across the last couple of months I’ve started to lift the curse of self restriction and am constantly reminding myself, that I am allowed to be a multi-faceted artist and person. This is a strength, not a weakness.
The need to compare myself.
Uh, comparison. The root of so many bad feelings.
I truly believe that there’s room for all of us in the creative space, whether we make a living off it or not. There will always be enough jobs, enough opportunities and projects. We need fair access to these possibilities, but that’s a topic we will get into another time.
One of the best things I’ve done this year is unfollow lots of photographers on Instagram. Of course I kept following artists that truly inspire me. But I got rid of lots of accounts I only used to compare myself with. Who got booked for which job? Who did which project in that studio? Who shot this commercial project?
It was incredibly stressful being on Instagram and constantly comparing yourself - with people you have never met before in most cases.
Now I try to follow creatives from different genres, whether it’s photography, DIY, art, interior, fashion. This way the app has become a more inspiring space for me and I am already connecting with lot of like minded people. Being in your own bubble doesn’t help you as a creative and comparison will kill any individual thought you might have.
Can only recommend cleaning up your social media, worked 10/10 for me.
Getting caught in the “hustle”
Hi, I’m Anna and I’m a recovering workaholic. Lovely to e-meet you.
Lots of times I measured my own self worth with my productivity, filled my week with lots of meetings until I could barely take one second for myself or the people I loved and rushed from project to project.
“Where’s the fire? What’s the hurry about? You better cool it off before you burn it out”
Listening to Billy Joel’s “Vienna” always hits painfully close to home, but manages to calm me down and re-examine my priorities. I realized that glorifying the hustle and rushing through life would rob me of so many opportunities to experience joy - in my work and as well as my private life.
It’s not the easiest thing to do, I love working on multiple projects, but I am getting more and more sensitive to the warning signs, try to schedule less meetings and take on less to experience more. Prioritizing rest is something that comes with it. You cannot pour from an empty cup. Past experiences have made that painfully clear. So I am working on taking it slow and finding a speed that let’s me do what I love - and enjoy the entire process.
Thank you so much for taking the time to read this! Let me know what you would like to let go :)
x
Anna