You are talented, bright, and very ambitious. You’re devoted to your creative career and you know what you want. But, you don’t seem to be happy with your creative life. You find yourself consumed with others’ success. Sometimes you feel a wave of envy taking you over. Your heart almost freezes and it shrinks with jealousy for other creatives’ accomplishments.
At times you just want to run away and hide. Your motivation and inspiration disappear. You forget about how talented and ambitious you are.
What can you do with these big feelings?
First, remind yourself why you wanted to be a creative in the first place. If you don’t express your creativity, how would you feel? What would you do if you weren’t an artist? What did you secretly dream your life as an artist would be? Does the reality match your dream?
Answering these questions will help you ground yourself back into your own truth and help you anchor into who you are as a creative.
Grounding yourself in your own truth as a creative is powerful. It gets you back in touch with your talents, abilities, hopes, and dreams – your authentic connection with yourself. This is the place where you want to be, act, and create from. It’s the core of your own truth, your own aspirations and interests. Your creative emotional space, the place where you find yourself as an artist and create your unique art.
Being grounded in your own truth, also allows you to see your feelings from a different place. No longer caught within the storm of feelings that threatens to take you down with each wave, you’re able to watch these waves of feelings from a grounded and safe place.
Just like a lighthouse shining its light from the shore upon the waters, your awareness of your feelings is a beam that illuminates your way. You have emotional power when you stay in that grounded place and allow your insight to shine a light into the storm of your big feelings.
Let the big feelings come and go while you stay grounded in your lighthouse of insight. From this distance you can watch their comings and goings. You can see their origins. With this knowledge, you can start working with these feeling, rather than let them overcome you.
Jealousy and envy are normal, but you don’t have to get stuck in these feelings. You can use these feelings to help you get where you want.
How do you use difficult feelings to move you forward?
Recognize the wisdom hiding within envy and jealousy. Underneath this storm of feelings you will likely find some painful memories that you need to face.
You’re unconscious is like an ocean. Unsettled old issues will bring a storm in your life.
There is power in these feelings. You don’t have to let them take you down. You can use their power to get somewhere. Every time you wallow in envy, feeling sorry for yourself, hiding, not actively creating your life, you are not engaging their transformative power.
Yes, these big feelings have power. You can let their power take you down, or you can use that power to transform you.
What are these feelings telling you?
At some level, you know what these feelings of jealousy are telling you. They’re telling you that you have dreams to fulfill. You want so much to live your dreams. But, you’re also so scared it won’t happen for you.
In the creative and entertainment world, many artists live with a big fear, more so than in any other field. You hear everywhere how hard it is to “make it.” Only a few are lucky enough or have the right connections have a chance.
While this is true, it’s also true that thousands of creatives and performers are living fulfilling and successful lives. It’s possible for them, it’s possible for you.
If you decide that this is the career path you want to take and continue on, then why don’t you maximize your chances to get there? You can use the power of your feelings to move forward rather than letting their power destroy you.
To really use the power of your feelings, you have to stop going to all those emotional places that aren’t helping you. It’s time to hone their power.
Honing the power of your feelings, you may find yourself admiring those accomplished creatives. Their stories of perseverance, endurance, mistakes, humanity, and their own failures and struggles may become your inspiration. This is the emotional transformative place you need to be to create opportunities for your fulfilling artistic career.
If you have any questions please contact me for a free consultation.
I am Mihaela Ivan Holtz, Doctor in Clinical Psychology. I help creatives and performers with emotional trauma, depression, anxiety, performance anxiety, creative blocks, relationships, and addictions – to be and live their own best version. You can read more about Therapy for Creatives and Performers here.
