dear kening, how do you center real work?
Dear Kening,
I haven’t been tending my website for a little while, because of the pressures of client work, and keeping afloat. But, I know that the work I am doing... is my real work. To tend that, I need to tend my online spaces (the website, the newsletter). I suppose my question for you might be how to centre that work, that real work, when it feels very tentative, especially when compared with the work that is currently paying my rent (but is sucking my soul).
Laura
dear Laura,
sometimes, the beginning stages of building a vision, growing a business -- can feel like having an imaginary best friend, or growing an invisible garden. it's easy to feel like a crazy person, talking to the air, sowing seeds that haven't yet sprouted (let alone produced any fruit) -- even when it nourishes our souls. on the other hand, there is the work we do for other people, solid and material, that is feeding our bellies; paying our rent.
it's too easy, then, to see the passion-fueled dream world vs. the material, here-and-now world -- as two opposite dichotomies. but they don't have to be. because everything that is material, now, was once also just an idea in someone’s head. everything that is just an idea in our heads -- can become material. just because your real work cannot pay the rent now -- doesn't mean that it never will. but it takes time. and: consistent effort, momentum, conviction, and patience.
so how, then, do we center "real work" that feels so tentative?
my first suggestion is: be very clear and concrete about motivation: how this real work can feed you -- not only psychically, but also, eventually, materially/financially. writing a newsletter or working on a website can feel like very abstract actions without immediate output (like an hourly wage), but they are two steps within an ecosystem-web that you're forming. their purpose is to nurture connections, and to create flow with the people you're serving -- energetic flow, which translates to monetary flow. everything is interconnected. these long term projects, like gardens, are investments in your material wealth. convincing yourself that it is important to work on them means convincing ALL parts of you - including the part which is looking out for your survival.
my second suggestion: create rituals and systems that can make the work feel good. become curious about the process. use your instincts to gauge how you're working. if you feel pressured and anxious - this is a sign that something needs to change. the goal is to find flow, effortlessness, and ease -- even when it's challenging work, with no clear rules, and no clear reward. how can you open a clearing of space, time, and energy to tend to this real work? how can you make that experience more pleasurable, and structure your life so that you can come back to it, with repetition and ease, as if coming back to your creative & psychic home?
my third suggestion: literally, write it down on a piece of paper. in as few words as possible - why this real work matters, how tending to your online spaces relates to being nourished (creatively, emotionally, financially), and what rituals & rhythms you're evolving for this process.
yours truly,
kening