How embracing change can help you find your muse
"BECOME THE CHANGE YOU SEEK IN THE WORLD"
We all go through changes. Whether they are slow and subtle like the recession of a hairline, or drastic and life altering, like a sudden mishap, accepting change and even embracing it can help keep us open to new ideas and inspirations that always seem to come along with change.
Change to heart
We are always changing, becoming a slightly different and older version of ourselves with each blink and breath. Some of these changes are small and subtle, like a single grain of sand through the hourglass; other changes manifest themselves as huge life altering events which can, for good or bad, completely change your world
Think about all of those big changes, good or bad, that have helped to define your life up to now:
- Starting school
- Puberty
- Graduating
- Moving out of your parent’s house.
- Your first big job
- Changing jobs
- Having to move back in with your parents
- Leaving the country
- Getting Arrested (it happens)
- Losing a Job
- Losing a loved one
- Falling in Love
- Getting Married
- Having a baby
- Having you parents move in with you
Any kind of change is an opportunity for us to learn and grow and to become inspired. Whether it is something that seems bad like losing your job or, something that is considered great such as getting a promotion, embracing change with and allowing yourself to be inspired by it will help you grow and mature on a creative level.
For example, let us say you lost your job.
Now, you can look at all the bad things that come with the loss of a secure job such as less money, no seniority status, years of experience and learned skills now useless, and find yourself in a serious funk. Or, you can look at the potential positives that can come with this new drastic life change and pick yourself up to see what new opportunities await you.
You might realize that you were a bit too comfortable in your position and that you are allowed your skills to stagnant and you now have the opportunity to learn new things and pursue new interests. In fact, being free of the weight of your old job might allow you to pursue a career in something that you are really passionate about but never had time to pursue. Perhaps the only thing that was holding you back was the fear of having to start from the bottom and now that you are starting over anyway, there is nothing to stop you from pursuing your dreams.
In order to free your mind and find inspiration, you need to be able to embrace change and allow yourself to learn and grow from it. Whether it is the slow and inevitable change that comes with time and bends you like a tree exposed to continuous wind, or a sudden rent in our continuum that uproots us and forces us to fight to thrive, embracing change and allowing yourself to see the positive aspects will undoubtedly leave you open to your muse.
Writing Changes
Looking back into my past, I notice all the changes, both good and bad, that have bent me and rent me and made me into what I am today. I look back at all my moments, achievements, heartbreaks, breaks, big moves, and big decisions that I have made and how I have weathered these changes to grow into the person I am now. It has taken me a while to come to grips with the idea of change, but realize that I need to be able to embrace it in order to become the writer I want to be.
One of the biggest changes that I have recently gone through was voluntarily cutting my hours at a place I have been working at for nearly seven years in order to pursue my writing career. This was a big move on my part and took a lot of will power for me to finally go through with it since by cutting my hours; I was going to become more dependent on my freelance writing income. It also meant that I was pretty much telling the people I work for that I had no interest in moving forward in the company which meant no more promotions and a cut to my benefits. This was a big step, but a step I needed to take in order to fulfill my dream.
By embracing this change, and forcing myself to pursue more writing jobs in order to keep the bills paid, my career has blossomed over the past year giving me more exposure and experience than I would have never gotten if I was still working fulltime. It has even fueled my ambition to become a full time writer sometime in the very near future.
