Presence over Performance

Halfway through the creative arts fast, learning to trust my own leadership, keep the reservoir clean, and give one thing my undivided attention.

Yoooo. What’s up family?

Look, a lot of us are out here low-key panicking that if we step away from the grind for even a second, the momentum is just gonna vanish.

If you’re new here, I’m on Day 15 of a 25-day creative arts fast... meaning absolutely zero creating, no studio time, just straight resetting. It’s been terrifying dealing with real-time emotions without an escape route. Case in point: this past holiday weekend was so jam-packed with Juneteenth and Father’s Day that I completely ghosted my logging journal for five days straight. My daily logs only need to be a few sentences max to lock the frequency in, but I didn’t even do that. Between getting invited to studio sessions and watching the creative energy active all around me... man, it felt like somebody throwing down on a 10-piece lemon pepper wing dinner while I’m on a water fast. I almost crashed out, but we made it.

Here’s the thing: I have total creative sovereignty over this fast. I know a creative freeze isn’t for everybody... some people are still out here trying to catch that inspiration in a bottle. But I’ve been doing this so long that I didn’t need more sparks; I needed a serious resurgence, and that requires discipline. Your path might look different... Bruce Lee’s discipline didn’t look like Muhammad Ali’s... but I can bet you a million dollars that creative discipline is for you. It’s about checking yourself before you wreck yourself so you can actually fulfill one project at a time instead of drowning in a million ideas. We’re officially halfway through the fast, the proof is in the pudding, and I’m locking back into my logs today.

I know I’m not the only one wrestling with the tension between staying focused and just trying to be human. Drop somethin below and let me know where your mind is at... what are you processing this week?

—Gold