Balance As An Artist...

Even after all these years as an artist, I still find it difficult to achieve balance. As creatives, we experience constant ebb and flow. We are our own bosses, sometimes with no one to answer to, which means we are responsible for setting our own goals and priorities. This autonomy can be both a gift and a curse, as it easily backfires depending on our level of motivation, organisation—or lack thereof.

I often find myself contemplating how our work differs from that of someone in a corporate environment. Each time, I conclude that it’s an apples-to-oranges comparison. Both realities come with their own distinct sets of pros and cons. The pressures in each scenario are no less real than the other. Though the pressure to fulfil our potential feels like it rests solely on our shoulders. As creatives I suppose we have more opportunity to honour our purpose in the way we choose, but the pressure to then do so in the most effective way can be debilitating.

The privilege of deciding how to spend our day is a blessing. But the challenge lies in using that time wisely. How do we grant ourselves permission to take breaks? How do we know when to stop? When have we crossed the line, pushing ourselves too far toward burnout? These are questions I still struggle with.

From my own experiences and what I’ve read, I’ve found that creating structure is incredibly helpful. Leaving things open-ended often leads to chaos. Structure makes decisions for you, reducing the mental load of constant choices. Planning my days, weeks, and months—though I’m not always great at it—brings clarity and direction. It gives me a path to follow rather than aimlessly meandering through my tasks, rarely truly completing them.

Setting boundaries with both work and personal life is crucial. We need to make sure we’re nurturing other areas of our lives, so we show up in the best possible way when it’s time to create. However, I’ve also realised that achieving the one true goal of excellence sometimes requires skewing the balance too far in one direction. There are times when we need to work longer hours than we’d like, obsess over details, sacrifice sleep, and say goodbye to whatever social life we have.

I don’t have the answers yet. Writing this feels like a note to myself—a reminder that perhaps the key is to be kinder to ourselves. That we are doing enough, even though it doesn’t always feel that way.

Ultimately, it’s all in pursuit of creating something meaningful.

... or maybe it's not.

Maybe it doesn't have to have any meaning at all.

Maybe thats the beauty of it.