I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should. Otherwise, I fear that after preaching to others I myself might be disqualified. 1 Corinthians 9:26-27
Paul didn’t necessarily find immediate joy in his self-training. He wasn’t a masochist. But some translations say this verse a bit more harshly. They conjure up visions of Paul beating himself black and blue instead of giving into temptation and sin. That’s pretty hardcore. He felt one way, but he wouldn’t give in to those feelings. He powered through those feelings.
I believe artists have situations they need to power through: creative blocks.
There are times I approach my creative canvas and just don’t feel like it. I’m not motivated. I don’t feel particularly inspired. It’s easy for me to sit around and wait for inspiration to come. That probably means getting caught up on my DVR recordings.
But these times call for some Olympic-style training. We need to power through the creative block. Power through the feelings. Power through the fact that we just aren’t feeling it today.
You can do it! In fact, I’m doing it right now as I write this. Power through.
Creative exercise: Give yourself a creative playtime today. No matter how busy you are, block off 1 or 2 hours for creative play. You aren’t going to use anything you create within this window. It’s a time to experiment, play, and fail. Create something completely useless or explore an idea that will never come to anything. Don’t do any real work within this window.
But keep track of this time. Write down the ideas, save the results, and catalogue it for future use. Though there probably won’t be any tangible, real fruit from this exercise, it will recharge you. And who knows, one of those “bad ideas” might turn into something amazing.