020: Creative Capacity

Do you ever feel like you don’t have it in you to create? This is something that SO many creatives face and in this episode, I am sharing 5 simple ways you can increase your capacity to create!
If you feel like you don’t have the capacity, just know that this is something that I can totally relate to. I’ve been there and that’s why today I am encouraging you to use these steps to help you use your creative capacity to do what you love.
You’ll get practical takeaways that you can implement into your daily routine to help you take back more time, space and energy.
What you’ll find in this episode:
What I am currently creating
Why I wanted to talk about creative capacity
5 ways you can increase your capacity to create
Read the transcript of the episode below:
 Episode 20 - Creative Capacity

Have you ever noticed that there are certain periods of your life where you feel really creative and that you're able to create quite easily and that there are other times when it just doesn't seem to happen? Today we are talking about creative capacity. This is episode 20.

Welcome to the Committed to Create Podcast. I'm Lisa Funk, and I am so excited to hang out with you here as we talk about the power of creating with our hands and our minds. I like to keep it real, remind you that you are not alone and share specific ways that creativity and mindfulness can help us live even more meaningful and joyful lives.

I am so glad that you're here.

Hello, my friend. I am so glad that you're here. I love doing the podcast and sharing these ideas and thoughts that I have because I have struggled with my mental health. And because I have found so much joy in creating and creativity. These are things that I think about a lot, and I love sharing ideas and communicating. And these are the things that I really would be chatting with you about if you were at my house. Sitting on my big blue couch with me. So I am glad that you're here and I am excited about today's topic because it is a topic that I was just chatting with my friend about on my walk this morning.

So before we get started with today's topic, I wanted to do a segment: what I'm currently creating.

Every once in a while, I like to share things that I am working on and creating and how I am using my creative muscles. And right now, I haven't told anyone this, but I am working on a new lettering product to have ready for Christmas time. Now I've already talked before on Instagram and in my newsletter about the spiral bound, blank lettering notebook that I'm working on creating, but this is something different.

And I have been thinking for a while about wanting to create another lettering product. And I just have kind of let the ideas percolate a little bit and it's coming together and I'm really feeling excited about it. And I'm going to spend a few days this week really focused on it. And my husband's going to help watch the kids so that I can really get a lot of work done on this.

And I'm so excited about it. I will be sharing a little bit more on Instagram as I worked through the process of creating this new product, but I just love creating something new that I've never seen, that I've never made. And helping my brain to think out of the box and think of new ideas and how it can be a blessing to other people too.

So I am stretching myself and pushing myself. I really love to create products that are really high quality and that have a lot of thought and care put into them. And so I don't create products, just willy nilly. I don't just throw things out there. I really take time to think about it. Think through it and create something special, something that's going to be meaningful to you.

And of course, something that combines creativity and mindfulness, because I think it's so powerful. I know that for so many of us, you know, having a regular meditation practice might not be super easy either because we're not used to it. Or we have lots of kids around or whatever it might be. But having a regular creativity practice that we do can really be that mindful piece, that mindful part of our day when we're able to let our brains relax a little bit and really tap into that mind, body, soul connection. I really think that when we're using our hands to create and allowing our minds to sink in and be present in the moment and really connect with our spirit and our soul, I just feel like it's such a nourishing experience that I want everyone to have on a regular basis, which is totally my goal in all of the products that I create.

And this product is brand new. I just started outlining my ideas last week. And this week I'm going to start executing and doing all of the creative work. And I'm just really excited about that and wanted to share it with you. I will share more details as we get closer to releasing it, but I wanted to give you all the very first sneak peek of what I'm currently creating.

So for today's topic, we are talking about creative capacity and I'm going to explain a little bit about why I wanted to talk about this and it's because it's really relevant to my life right now. So this is going to be a little bit of a life update, too. If you have followed along at all on Instagram, in the past, I'm really open about my mental health and when I might be really struggling or when I'm just, you know, in kind of a funk, which is always my biggest joke, because my last name is Funk. And so it's just like, yeah, you're kind of in a funk. And I am permanently a "Funk" so it's very hilarious.

But anyway, I am really open that I have these ups and downs and just times when I kind of feel out of it, it's not that I'm always like either super high energy and happy and elated. Or down in the dumps, super dark.

That's not how it necessarily is for me. A lot of the times I'm functioning and I'm making it through the day and there's nothing super wrong, but I just don't feel amazing. I just don't feel great. And of course, we're not going to feel amazing all the time, but if you go through a really long period, like weeks or months where you just are kind of feeling blocked, maybe not enjoying what you normally do, of course, that's a sign that you might be depressed.

But if it's just to a small scale, just a little bit where you're like, eh, I'm just not quite feeling like I normally do, or I would love to feel passionate and rejuvenated and excited about life. Then I totally understand that. And that's a lot of what I have experienced over the past couple of years. I just have not always felt like I want to, or like I know I can, and because I have struggled quite a lot with my mental health on and off for the past, over 20 years, I am very proactive about trying to take care of my mental health. And so I do quite a lot in order to do that. And even when I'm in my lower times, when I'm struggling more with my mental health, I still use creativity as a lifeline.

It's one thing that has remained constant over the years. I have tried all kinds of other things. As far as therapy, medication, life, coaching, herbal remedies, all kinds of other things. And some of them have worked and some haven't and some have worked for a certain period of time and some have worked for longer.

But the thing that has lasted, the thing that I have continued to hold onto throughout trying all of those different things has been creativity. It's something that I really cling to. Even when I am really low energy, I try to take that energy and do some lettering, do some writing, do some painting, something so that I can continue to have that mindful practice in my life. And it's been really fulfilling for me.

However, during a lot of those times I've noticed I don't have the capacity to create at the same level that I do when I'm feeling great. Now that might sound really obvious, but I really start believing a certain story when I'm not feeling good. I start believing the story that I'm really just not interested in doing those things anymore.

I just don't like it anymore, or I'm just not that kind of a mom who does those things. I start telling myself these stories because I don't know, I'm trying to make sense of it. And so I would tell myself, for example, I just don't really like cooking anymore. Now, if you've been listening to the last few podcasts, you've heard that I decided to start cooking again.

And remembered that I really actually do like it. I know, I know it's not for everyone. And for a few years, I really believed that I just didn't like it anymore. And so my husband did all the cooking and that was great. Yeah. I'm so grateful that he enjoys it and was happy to take that on. And it wasn't a big deal, but then I decided I actually want to start cooking again and using it as a creative outlet and something that I can do and accomplish and enjoy.

Now, I wouldn't have been able to do that if I didn't have a little bit more capacity to create. So other things in my life played into that: other elements of my mental health, improving and my energy, improving those things, played into that. And I've been able to really combine many different things to improve my mental health during this phase of my life.

And I've been creating so much more. And when I say creating so much more, I don't just mean art or lettering or work. I mean, cooking with my kids, baking, organizing parts of my house, getting ready, like these different things that I create feel so good, but I didn't necessarily have the capacity to create in the same way before when I wasn't feeling great with my mental health.

So today I want to talk about five ways that we can increase our capacity to create. But I don't want to do this in a way that will make us believe that we're somehow better or more valuable or more important if we have a bigger capacity to create. Someone who is creating more and seems to be more creative, isn't better. Isn't more valuable. I am not more amazing now. Because I just happen to have more capacity to create now.

I really think it's so important for us to evaluate what is our capacity right now? Is it to maybe do one minute of doodling or coming up with a creative solution for something? Is it spending a few minutes with our kids doing sidewalk chalk?

What is it that we can incorporate, into just a little bit of capacity. We just have a little bit of energy and a little bit of time and a little bit of emotional energy too. It's not just the time. If we compare ourselves to other people and say, man, we both have 24 hours in a day. What's my problem. Why can't I create and be as productive as all these other people. That's not fair because our capacities are different. We're all struggling with different things. And so we need to really take a look at these things.

So today we're talking about five elements that affect our creative capacity, but I don't want you to judge yourself and believe that you're not amazing and valuable because you're not in a period or a season of your life when you're feeling like you're able to create a lot. I think that these are interesting to consider and to use if it serves you.

So the first is to check on your physical basics. The physical basics are so important. If we are not getting enough sleep, we're not going to have energy. If we're not eating some protein and a little bit of a balanced diet. We probably are going to crash quickly and not feel energetic.

If we need to take medication or supplements or other things, to help balance out our mental health and improve our, you know, what's going on with our hormones or other chemicals in our body then doing that can really affect our creative capacity as well as exercise. I am not someone who has always loved exercise and who's like obsessed with exercise.

That is not me. Okay. I am not the person who's spending hours and hours at the gym. And who's obsessed with that. I've never posted a workout online.

I don't know why I even said that like as if anyone who knows me would ever think that I would do that, but I, and there's nothing wrong with doing that. That's just like, not who I am. Okay. So I am not coming with this incredible exercise background and it's not something that I like crazy. Normally the way that a lot of people do it's doesn't come really naturally to me, but I do notice the difference.

So I'm going to spend a little bit of time talking about this number one, checking on your physical basics, because this is where I have noticed a huge shift in my increase of capacity for creating. So I was struggling quite a bit with fatigue in the spring. And that's often a sign of depression for me, but I wasn't feeling necessarily down or depressed.

In other ways, I just was feeling really tired and I wanted to get ahead of it because I know that it can be linked to depression for me. And so I was trying to think of something else that I could do in order to feel better and to have more energy, to be able to take care of my family and enjoy my life, all of those things.

Now I must mention that this was the spring of 2020. So I believe that there are probably a lot of people who were feeling fatigued and I definitely correlated to my mental health, even if I wasn't necessarily depressed. In other ways, I think that our bodies can really respond to big life changes and stress.

And even though quarantine wasn't really super stressful for me. Outwardly, like, I really tried to make the most of the time with my family and being together and not having to go anywhere. I'm kind of a home body. So a lot of that wasn't like incredibly hard on me, but it obviously was affecting me because I was really fatigued and really tired.

And there could have been many other things going on as well. So when you are struggling with something like that, it's tough because there are so many things that you can do.

People will have a million different answers of how you should deal with depression or anxiety or fatigue or whatever mental health thing you're dealing with. There are so many options. And so for me, I am our religious, a spiritual person. I try to pray about what is one step I can take. What is the next step to take? And I just do one step at a time. So I am not trying to implement every little thing all at once. And one thing that I had felt inspired to do that I had felt drawn to do for actually a while was to go back to some doctors that I had worked with before a few years earlier.

To check on what was going on for me at a biochemical level. And it's something I had done before and they come up with a really specialized compound of supplements and vitamins and different things to try to treat what's at the core of what's going on instead of just treating the side effects or the symptoms of those imbalances that are happening.

And. I just have to say side note, I totally am open to so many different treatments and I don't judge any of them because I think we each have to do what's right for us. And that was just something that I felt had helped me. And so I decided to. Go back by go back. I mean, do a phone visit and, um, do the testing again.

And so I started on those specialized vitamins and supplements, and I could tell a major difference in my energy level. And I was so grateful for that. In addition, I decided to go back on another medication that had really helped me in the past that I had not taken for a couple of years because I couldn't take it when I was pregnant and I just hadn't gotten back on it.

And I have to tell you that, oh my gosh, it has helped so much. Also it really helps me when the weather changes you're in Arizona and it starts cooling down a little bit. And I could start walking in the morning. Again, walking is my form of exercise. It is my go to, and I know it is really great. It's not super intense and hardcore, but it is a great way for me to get outside and to move my body every morning.

And so all of those things combined really have helped me so much. I feel like I'm in a really good place right now. I know well enough to know that I have ups and downs. I may experience another, you know, low or kind of like blob period, of course. But when I feel great, I enjoy it. And so doing a number of these different things really has helped me to feel so much more capacity to create.

I feel energetic. I feel focused. I have been, like I said, cooking more and creating more experiences with my kids and creating more organization in my home and creating more in my business. And it has felt really great. I also try to make sure that I go to bed at a really reasonable time. And so that I'm able to wake up early and go for a walk before my kids need me to help them get ready for school.

So as you can see, there are many different things that contribute to my mental health and my energy and how I'm feeling. It's not just one thing. I think that if someone tells you that there is a silver bullet, just one thing that you have to do and you're going to feel great. I just don't think I would trust them because it is always for me, at least a combination.

And yes, there might be something that makes a huge difference or there might be something that is a constant over time. Like for me, creativity has been a constant over time. That has been something I've clung to and learning about thought work and life coaching. And all of these concepts has definitely improved my mental health in the way that I speak to myself and I'm kind to myself, but I haven't had anything that's just fixed everything forever. And it's just no problem. One easy thing, take this pill and you'll never struggle again, for me, it's normally a combination. And the first thing that I do is to check on my physical, wellbeing, my physical basics, my sleep, my eating, if I need to be taking medications or supplements and exercise.

So that's something that I probably will go back to in many other episodes, because I think that it's so important. And just a side note, as I am feeling good right now and able to just do so much more than I was before. It could be easy for me to say, gosh, what was my problem? Why couldn't I do anything?

You know, I'm able to do all these things now. Why, why couldn't I do it then? I was just like, Majorly slacking or something, but that's not true. And I know that, and I know better now than to put myself down for having different capacity at different times. I know that working on my mental health and all the different things that I was doing then, it took time, but building up, it did create more capacity for me, but that doesn't mean that I'm better now. And that I was, you know, a total slacker and not important or valuable then.

All right. Number two. The second thing to consider when thinking about your capacity to create are the distractions that you might have in your life.

And when I say distractions, I don't necessarily mean that it's a bad thing. I think that there are worthy distractions or priorities we could even say, and then there are other things. Are distractions. So this would just be taking a look at your life and seeing what is taking up your time and energy.

Once you get to where you realize, you know, your physical capacity and your energy, your energetic capacity. What are you using that capacity for currently? Is it for something really important to you? Like spending time with your kids, playing with them, being with friends, having fun with your family, cleaning and taking care of your home?

Like, what are your priorities? And if that is what you're spending your time doing, and your values are matching your priorities. And that is a beautiful thing. If you find that there are distractions that are taking your capacity, so this might be, you know, social media, Netflix, any other thing that you might list under a distraction or a consumption activity?

I am not here to shame you just so you know, I love scrolling Instagram. I love a good Netflix show. There is nothing inherently wrong with any of that. What I want you to decide is: do I want to do those things on purpose or do I want it to be a default that just keeps happening and that I spend lots of my time doing, but that isn't really creating more joy, more happiness and more skills for me and more, you know, progress in my talents and what I'm creating and who I'm becoming.

If that's something you feel like really is distracting you and kind of draining your capacity, then that is something to really consider. Do you want to replace some of those distractions with opportunities to create more? So for me, just being mean to myself and mad at myself and hard on myself about those things.

Isn't really helpful for me to say, gosh, what's my problem. Why did I spend so much time? How did I not realize how much time had passed before I had, you know, stopped looking at Instagram or watching that show, or, I mean, it couldn't be any number of things. And I just don't think that it's helpful to be mean to yourself about it.

What I think is helpful is to think about things you want to create and putting those in your day first, because if you are so caught up in doing a project or an activity that you're enjoying. You are going to forget about your phone. You are not going to feel the need to get on the couch and turn on Netflix.

And for me, that's just the most helpful thing is to replace it with something good. Right. It's just like with little kids, you can focus on the negative behavior all you want, or you can tell them what they can do. Right? Like when you're a little kid is kicking their sibling and you say, we don't kick our siblings, but you can kick a ball. You can kick the ground outside.

You know, just focusing on what we can do, I think is so much more effective for our brains. When we start getting negative, our brains are going to start feeling bad, and then we're going to want to turn to those numbing activities, even more for relief, because we feel like, god, we're just not productive and we're not creative and we're not doing anything anyway. So what's the point might as well just go, you know, binge Netflix show.

So number two to recap is to pay attention to our distractions. If it's a priority that matters to us, that's where we want to put our capacity. But if it's a distraction that isn't something that we're going to care about in five years or five months or even five minutes, then it might be something we want to let go. And for me, I'm going to be totally honest. I do struggle with spending too much time on my phone sometimes. And so I use that little widget, I have an iPhone, but I use that little widget where you can put your screen time, right on your home screen. And so I have set a limit for Instagram, for example, because sometimes it's easy for me to say, well, it's my job. And I'm on there responding to comments and answering DMS, which I do think is really important, but then I can just easily go to it without even thinking and spend more time than I want to. So I've set a limit for Instagram, so it will shut me out and block me out once I've reached that limit. And I know because there's a limit that I want to create for Instagram first, before I consume on Instagram or else I might lose my time limit. So for me, it's a really good incentive to create before I get distracted on there. And then it also will tell you, what else do you spend time doing on your phone? So for me, for example, I like listening to podcasts and audio books, and I love sending Markopolos to friends and family. So, that's time that I feel really good about because it's aligning with my values and my priorities.

So I don't see that as a distraction. So when I can look at my phone and see where I've spent my time, I can say that's time on my phone that I'm totally okay with because I love learning. And I'm often listening to an audio book while I'm cleaning and organizing, or while I'm on a walk, or different things like that.

Number three is to create white space. So for some of us we're so busy and we fill our schedules so tight that we don't have any free time. We don't have time to do nothing. We think that every single minute of every day needs to be used to the max that we need to make sure we're always productive and always getting things done.

And if there's any free time, we can fill it in with that other thing that someone asked us to do. This does not help to increase our capacity to create because our brains don't have the time and the space to have ideas and to even obviously have the time to create, but having white space is so helpful for creativity.

Allow yourself to be bored. Allow yourself to have time without listening to something without always having something on your schedule. So for those of you who are super scheduled and super busy, that might mean scheduling it. Buffers scheduling in time where you don't have a lot to do where you can think where you can just be, where you can sit, where you can, you know, obviously you can create in that white space too, but having some space to decide what to do with it and to just let your brain breathe a little bit, let your body relax and just be open to that creativity really increases your capacity.

Now, if you're someone who is not a super planner who isn't scheduled to the max, you may find that you're not scheduling anything, but you're using your time to consume or to, you know, do those, some of those numbing behaviors, maybe like Netflix or social media, I'm just sharing things that are relatable to me, but there could be many different things.

So if you are not a planner, I think it's easy also to not create white space for yourself. You may say, well, I don't schedule my whole day. I'm not super, super busy. However, you may still not be allowing for that white space that time to think and be open and just give yourself room to breathe into it. Be creative. It really does change how your brain works and your capacity to create.

Number four is to create quantity. So whether it's lettering or just creating ideas, allow yourself to generate as much as possible. Don't focus on getting the right thing the first time. Just let your brain think outside the box, let your brain come up with things that other people might think are stupid, just let yourself create freely and generate lots of ideas.

This is what creative people do. They allow their brain to really generate a lot of ideas so that it's in that habit so that it believes it's safe to do that so that you can create a lot. And if you're actually doing art or, you know, painting or woodworking, Or pottery, whatever it is in general, creating quantity is going to increase the quality.

And I'm not talking about mindlessly and carelessly wasting supplies. I'm talking about not trying to get it perfect on the first try, but allowing yourself to enjoy the experience, allowing yourself to create freely. I believe that that increases our capacity to create, because our brains aren't going to hold us back. They're going to feel safe to open up ideas and come up with more ways to do things and believe that creating is a safe space and that we can do a lot of it and we can do it freely.

I think that our mindset of course, is so important and that comes to creative capacity as well.

Number five is to make time for fun.

Oh my gosh. I am guilty of becoming kind of, I'm not going to say a stick in the mud, but sometimes I get too serious. Sometimes I just think about the to-do list or get worried about the future, or I forget to have fun. And when you look at little kids, their main goal in life is fun.

I have a child who is always asking and what are we going to do? And is it going to be fun? And of course, for them to them, I want to say, you know, life isn't just fun all the time, but then I'm on the other side of the spectrum sometimes where I have forgotten how to have fun and I need to let myself play and as adults, sometimes we don't even know what that looks like.

So one thing we can do is to think like a kid, think about what we enjoyed as kids. For example, I loved rollerblading as a kid. I don't know if I mentioned this before, but I loved rollerblading. And even in my twenties, when I lived in Santa Monica, my friend and I used to always go rollerblading along the boardwalk and it was the best. It was so fun. So freeing, obviously also exercise, but it just was fun. And so recently I decided to pull out the roller blades again, and I was not as used to it. So it was a little tricky, but it was fun.

And we can think about, did we enjoy certain things as kids? We might not be able to do them the exact same way, you know, trying to do a Cartwheel if you're not ready, could cause some problems. I have a good friend who did a Cartwheel recently and she was in pain for a while after. But you can think of things that you enjoy and be willing to be silly, be willing to dance and have dance parties with your family. Don't worry about what you look like.

Play a game, sing in the car or laugh with a friend, roll around on the floor. Let loose be silly. Find a game that you love playing with your family, you know, even saying yes to the things you might normally say no to like when your kids want to play hide and seek or chase, maybe saying yes. And seeing if you might be able to have some fun doing that and incorporate more play in your life.

Speaking of scheduling. How often do we schedule fun into our schedule? Do we make sure that we are having fun? It really can help us to relax and increase our capacity to create.

So as a recap, the five things to consider when you want to increase your capacity to create number one is to check on your physical basics. Number two is to identify distractions. Number three is to create white space. Number four is to create quantity. And number five is to make time for fun.

I hope that you are inspired to maybe evaluate and incorporate one of these ideas. If you're in a time in your life, when you just feel like you don't have the capacity, because you really are struggling with your mental health, I feel you.

I love you so much, by the way, if you feel that your capacity is small, because you have a lot of priorities that are really valuable and important to you right now. And so you don't feel like you have as much capacity to create that's okay too. The size of your capacity is not as important as how you're using it.

And if there are things you can do to increase it and you want to, because it feels good, then I encourage you to maybe take a look at one of these five things and see if it might make a difference in your life.

I hope that some of this might be helpful. I'm so glad that I could be with you on the podcast today.

I love being here every week and chatting with you. If you want to come over to Instagram and have a conversation with me, I am at hand lettered design. The other thing you can do to communicate with me is to leave a review of the podcast that just helps me know what you're enjoying and helps other people to know if the podcast might be a good fit for them as well.

And as always, if you are interested in using lettering as a mindful practice, as a fun way to have an outlet just for you, where you can create and do something that's fun, I encourage you to check out our beginner bundle. It's at hand lettered designed.com and it includes a workbook. It includes tracing paper. It includes the pens that you need and a video that will help you step by step, learn how to create the letter shapes. And I hope that you love it. I would love to see what you're creating and to hear from you. And thanks again for being here. I will talk to you again next week.
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Jennifer L. IN LOVE!! What a perfect idea! I am a plant mama too, like Lisa. I also manage a great deal of anxiety. I got into lettering a couple years ago as a creative outlet and discovered a multitude of treasures in the lettering community! This book that Lisa created with her daughter is just perfection! It's all the feels for me! Thank you both!!!
Cinthanie C. EXCELLENT BOOK! I really enjoy taking a minute each day to slow down and apply my hand to something that is not only emotionally supportive but relaxing and fun to do!! The mantras for everyday are very helpful for me. Thank you for your work and bringing such a high quality product into my life!
Daily Mindful Lettering Kit: Live With Love

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020: Creative Capacity

Podcast

046: Removing the Pressure

045: Creative Constraint
