3 Ways to Lead a Holistic Creative Life
I’m in love with the word “holistic” these days. If you’ve been following along on this here blog, you’ll know I was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis earlier this year.
Since then, I’ve been pursuing holistic healing techniques such as acupuncture, eating a vegan and plant-based diet, and other holistic, naturopathic remedies that have been making all the difference.
Aside from my journey to cure an incurable disease, I’ve also seen how holistic approaches to my creative life bring higher returns in the quality of my work and overall happiness.
So how can we use the concepts of holistic well-being to live happier lives as creatives? Let’s explore that together.
1. Build Habits and Routines that Support Your Ideal Version of Yourself
Before you do anything, I need you to go and buy the book Atomic Habits by James Clear. I’m not exaggerating when I say this book will change your life.
As James Clear says in his book, we are what we do every day.
All too often, what we do every day is worry, eat junk food, get lost in negative thoughts, and want what we can’t have. So, we live in a reality that is created by those habitual behaviors: one where we are worried, sick, and feeling a severe lack of what we want in our lives.
However, if we’re consciously building a life where we are getting enough sleep, waking up and working out, doing morning pages to nourish our writing habit, and thinking about what we’re grateful for before we go to bed, our reality will be one filled with abundance, energy, and creativity.
As creatives, we need to create a superstructure for our days that allows for creative deviations in our routines, time to work on our craft, and space for curiosity and exploration to deliver us inspiration.
For example, my daily schedule varies each day as I’m currently traveling with my partner Kyle and we’re living as digital nomads this year. So, we don’t have a daily schedule we stick to each day as we’re in different places every few weeks.
However, these are the things I try to do each and every day, just in a different order depending on what’s on our agenda:
Yoga, a HIIT workout, or a strength workout. Every day, I try to get in some kind of workout, even if it’s a short one. This helps me de-stress, get the endorphins flowing, and keep my body healthy.
Meditation. I meditate twice a day for 15 minutes. This has been a hard habit to cultivate — I love moving fast and taking breaks is hard for me! — but it’s paid off in spades. I feel more calm and have more clarity. My stress levels have reduced dramatically and I make better decisions. If you’re not meditating, you’re missing out on crucial brain and energy boosts.
Journaling, morning pages, or blogging. Because we’re on the move so often, I don’t always get to sit down and do full journaling each day. So, I make it a point to write a blog or do morning pages if I can’t get to my journal. Self-reflection and gratitude is a key part of a happy day, and morning pages helps me get my thoughts out so I can prime myself for writing. Try and make time for some sort of writing process so you can organize all that’s going on in your head. As writers, we often live in our heads, so do your part in cleaning up your mental clutter so you can truly focus.
Reading. Every day, I read at least a few pages of a book. This year, I’ve mostly been consumed by books about health and holistic healing, but generally I try and mix up fiction and nonfiction. You’ve got to fuel the fire of your storytelling, and to do so you need to make reading a habit if you want to be a compelling writer.
Exploration. Because this is our year of travel, we go on daily walks and try and spend a part of each day exploring and trying new food, going to interesting museums, or meeting new people. No matter what your world is like, try and carve out some time each day to research a subject that fascinates you for fun, or explore something new to keep your curiosity alive.
No matter what the contents of your routine looks like, make sure it serves the person you want to be.
2. Heal the Hurting Parts of Yourself
A lot of people like to equate suffering with the image of a “true artist.”
For a time, I bought into this myth. I lived a messy life, not taking care of myself and ended up with an autoimmune disease and no great masterpiece to show for it.
I would argue that we’re beyond trying to aspire to be a Hemingway or a Fitzgerald. If you’ve read their biographies, their lives are littered with deep suffering, and in Fitzgerald’s case, stealing the work of others in order to “succeed.”
There’s plenty of well-adjusted artists in the ranks of the greats, and I also believe that we’re in an era where the best form of art is one that comes from a solid place of clear observation of humanity.
By healing yourself of your past trauma and getting to the roots of your insecurities and fears, you’ll come out the other side into an awakened life.
You’ll still be able to write about the suffering and pain you’ve endured — because, after all, life is suffering and there’s plenty of that to draw from for your art.
However, you’ll be able to do so from an enlightened place, with better habits and a stronger sense of peace. With clarity, your characters will cut deeper with your new perspective.
My book recommendation for this topic is The Body Keeps the Score. It’s a beautiful book about the impact of trauma on our physical and emotional selves, and how we can heal from the pain we’ve accumulated in our lives.
If you go through the process of healing, I hope you find that your art becomes better in doing so. I’d love to hear from you if you’re on that path in the comments!
3. Tap into the Mind/Body Connection
Artists need to be rooted in their bodies and aligned with their souls.
That’s where our words come from, right?
By being better inhabitants of our bodies, we can calm our parasympathetic nervous system through practices like yoga, meditation, and breathing exercises. We can open our minds to more creative ideas, and allow inspiration to find us through our physical practices.
If that sounds pretty woo-woo to you, then consider this: when your body is sick, you can’t write. Right? A bad back or carpal tunnel will definitely impact the stories you want to tell when typing is painful or you’re popping pain pills to keep the sensations from distracting you.
In my case, my rheumatoid arthritis took up a lot of space this year. I had to give up alcohol and coffee and go vegan and gluten-free, and spend a lot of time learning about anti-inflammatory diets and supplements in order to begin to reverse my condition. At the end of 2020, the pain and swelling in my hands was so bad I could barely type. Now, the pain is completely gone, the swelling is almost completely gone, and I’m on track to get off the medications my doctor said I’d be on for life.
That’s hundreds of hours taken away from my enjoyment of life and pursuing my craft. While I’m grateful for the journey and what I now know about health and wellness, let this be a reminder that if you don’t take care of your body now, you’ll pay for it down the road.
The book I’ll recommend to you is Michael Geger’s How Not to Die. It’s a must-read if, you know, you don’t want to die anytime soon.
A Holistic Creative Life is One That Creates Great Art and a Sense of Fulfillment
Instead of saying “I’ll be happy when…” and claiming that winning an Emmy or getting on the bestseller lists will
My last book recommendation for this post will be The Untethered Soul. It’s a book that changed my life, and I read it during my yoga teacher training.
I’m not going to talk too much about it here because you have to read it yourself, but basically it lays out concrete ways you can change your mindset to lead a happier life.
With better habits, a happier mindset, and healed trauma — you’ll be truly unstoppable and ready to change the world with your art.
What’s one thing you’re going to change about your approach to your lifestyle design? Would love to hear from you in the comments!
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