You already know the drill: I get busy, I ignore this blog, I come back brimming with hopes of consistency, I retreat into life and disappear.
I give up on consistency. I now choose to be present when I am able. If this becomes a daily discipline as “successful” bloggers preach as their proven recipe for building an audience, so be it. I’m not going to fuss and cross my fingers hoping to “build a platform.”
The hard part about being a creative is when you start to lose touch with creativity in favor of managing your creativity.
I choose to be selfish now and write for myself without expectations of applause other than my own.
The last few months have been hectic. We mounted a li’l event called the Every Nation 2013 World Conference. We’ve been so busy that I feel paralyzed by the mountain of work that never seems to disappear no matter how hard my team and I chip and chisel away. Even as we headed into Orlando with our heads spinning, my mind was already on our next projects — Missions Month 2013, the ENCM Winter Summit 2013, Campus Harvest 2014, ABC3 promotions, the Prophetic Gathering 2014, the global website, the organization blog, and then some.
But it’s a good thing, this feeling of being overwhelmed. It’s challenging me to be a better leader; making me think more strategically how we can be better at what we do with our communications; stretching me to revisit priorities vis-a-vis resources. Ultimately, surrendering what and how I think things need to be done in favor of God’s blueprint.
This busyness is humbling. I really cannot accomplish anything without God’s help. I mean that. So in this busyness where I feel burned out and uninspired, I’m asking God to give me new dreams, new ideas, new strategies for our communications.
A quick break at a luncheon at the Dolphin Resort during the World Conference. Of course we’re taking selfies!
I had two separate conversations with the two freelance videographers we contracted for the World Conference. Ryan of 29Eleven Productions and Dan Chaney are both extremely talented, hardworking guys who are passionate about video. Their Instagram photos are inspiring me to rethink my personal posts. While I’m just as guilty as the next person when it comes to selfies, I’m starting to rethink how to train my eye to capture images that are more thoughtful, like I used to more than twenty years ago when I started taking pictures on my dad’s old Minolta.
The hard part about being a creative is when you start to lose touch with creativity in favor of managing your creativity.
You should always make room to be inspired to create and burn brightly. I should always make room to be inspired to create so I can burn brightly.
So what am I doing? I’ve started following photographers on Instagram and videographers on Vine. And of course, Ryan and Dan.
And there are these plans:
- Visit local art galleries
- Soak up the Downtown Library
- Drive anywhere out of the city
- Find people who inspire me
Here’s to burning.
Act Three 