I recently promised myself to create content every week. I am very fortunate to have the support of a group that meets every week and helps each other with the algorithm of content creation. For the first few weeks, I consistently created content and then I suddenly started to feel the pressure of creating content every week by a certain deadline.
I realized I was pushing myself and often created content at the last minute as it had to go to my editor before it was ready to go public. The process became very linear. I felt the fear of missing out and not being able to be part of my group to promote each other’s content.
I noticed that my body was shutting down. I wasn’t in the feminine anymore. I was pushing to meet the deadline by putting a lot of internal pressure on myself.
I am also learning a lot of new things right now, including wanting to create in Google documents so I can add different things like links easily, and not giving myself enough time to learn new things puts additional pressure on myself. My computer is slow and I need to take care of that too. No wonder I feel rushed and the fear of not being able to do things well has started to creep in.
I am on the other side of the content creation challenge now and want to share a few steps with you if you find yourself feeling burned out with your own process of creating things.
My First Response to Pressure:
My first response to the pressure was to go into my story which went something like:
- I don’t like writing
- Maybe I should make videos
Noticing My Story:
Luckily, I am used to engaging my body instead of my head as that is the feminine way so I decided to notice my story and go underneath my story to see how and where my ‘feminine shadows’ were showing up.
To learn more about feminine shadows, watch my video at
Since I wasn’t enjoying the process of creating content, I went into chasing the shiny object(scattered energy). Instead of staying focused with flow energy, I decided that I should be doing videos instead of creating content.
I was no longer in the creative feminine flow; instead, I was letting my scattered energy make me chase the shiny object and give up creating content.
Although, it is fine to do either videos or writing, but not because I am frustrated with the process.
What I needed was to listen to my body and call in the feminine flow by going underneath my story. That’s why I decided to slow down.
Slow Down and Listen:
I decided to give myself some space and break free from everything to focus on things that relax my body so it can speak to me.
Growing up, I experienced a lot of trauma and a shut down and giving up response when feeling overwhelmed is a very familiar pattern for me.
I have also learnt over time that, when this pattern creeps in, I don’t need to stop or change directions. I need to re-connect.
By slowing down, drinking my tea, relaxing, and going for a walk, I was ready for new insights. I investigated more about what was going on with me.
Upon re-evaluating and going underneath my story, I was able to see that it isn’t that I don’t like writing, but I am not enjoying the process of creating my writing. It doesn’t feel fun or creative.
Acknowledging my Past Writing Successes:
I noticed that I have done a lot of writing in the past. It was time to pat myself on the back:
- I wrote an article speaking about ‘good girl’ versus ‘bad girl’ and how patriarchy sets us up to fight against each other that was chosen to be taught to the second year of women studies students at the University of British Columbia.
- I have won a newsletter excellence award.
- I wrote consistently for five years every single month when I first started my business.
Permission:
By giving myself permission to not write content until I do it in a way that feels good, it felt that I could breath with anticipation of what is to come. Instead of pushing myself write, I needed to find the rhythm that I enjoy. I needed to slow down and develop a process that works for me so I am not doing it unconsciously with the deadline and pressure. I know I will eventually find my deadline, but it has to work for me and with my cycles of creation and flow.
My Non-Negotiables:
What I realized that for content creation to work for me it has to feel creative(Creativity is one of the feminine strengths):
- I need to take out my crayons and sticky notes.
- Write ideas by hand.
- Do mind maps.
- Have a creative ideas folder for ideas that come when I am driving or in the shower so it doesn’t feel like I am writing at the last minute to catch up with the group.
- I also need to do it in small steps.
Here is how I started creating content for this piece. I had my sticky notes nearby and I grabbed the crayons, coloured pencils, and mind maps that I learnt from Tony Buzan when I lived in England.
To learn more about mind maps, you can buy Tony Buzan’s book at Amazon
Here are my sticky notes nearby if I need to jot down ideas that I don’t want to forget.
And the final brainstorm of ideas I wrote before I wrote my article:
Creating Support:
The next step I took before creating content was to create support. I got together with an amazing writing buddy; we waited for each other on Zoom to complete our writing. One thing I have learnt while creating a feminine business model is to always have support of the community and never do anything alone. It was a lot of fun to grab my pencil crayons, draw the map, and write my steps with the support of my buddy on the other end.
It was spring break, the office door was closed, and by the end of an hour and a half, we were done writing. We have decided to meet every Monday at 10am to complete our writing.
Delegate:
Last step is to create a schedule for sharing my content and hire support, so if I feel it is too much for me, I have the support of somebody who can do it for me.
Now I have a choice, whether I create video or content; it isn’t coming from a place of changing gears because I am chasing the shining object to avoid being overwhelmed. I am in the driver’s seat. I need to do it with my natural feminine rhythms; I need to be creative and enjoy the process and I need to create support around it.
Let me know if these ideas resonate with you and what have you done to overcome a creativity block in your life. I love to hear from my readers.