This is from a deck of cards I’m working on for a Creative Soul Alchemy client.

It’s always amazing how the things I help others with are the exact things I need to help myself with.

So, after writing that post yesterday about my mission to share the process of becoming comfortable and confident and ready to put my journaling cards out there into the world, I sat down with my journal and the cards and picked this card:

What do you need right now?

Whoa.? I had been so focused on what the cards need that I forgot to think about what I need.

And as the only person who can give to the cards, in order for the cards to receive anything from me I need to be full so of course this is exactly the right place to start.

It turns out I need all sorts of space and permission.

Space and permission to let this take the time it takes.? To not judge myself for not being able to do it faster.

That comes in like a giant wave of crisp fresh air.

I hadn’t realised how tangled I was in the idea that there is something wrong with me for not being able to do this faster, or for not already knowing how to do this.

Which is super ridiculous because how can I know how to do something I have never done?

I can figure it out, absolutely.? And I’ve done so many similar things that it will probably be pretty simple to figure it out.

But I need permission to start here, in the place of not having a fucking clue.

Recognizing that it’s ok to not know puts me in a different position.? From here I can see what I need next:

• A new routine.
• To devote this week to figuring this out.

To remind myself that I am in the process of doing this new thing by not doing my usual things – as much as possible.

Which means, to still take care of the other things I need to take care of with my work, and to devote the rest of my work time to figuring this out.? And to get out of my usual routines as a way of signifying that I am moving into something new.

Then what came to me is that I need to ride my bike to the park with my journal and have journal picnic where I will brainstorm what to do next.

So I did that last night.

And things became a lot clearer.? I felt myself move from that overwhelmed feeling of “I don’t know how to do this” to that grounded and open feeling of? “I could do this, or I could do that.? I have a lot of ideas and I can figure out which one to go with.”

I feel like I have found solid ground. A place to begin.

I don’t think it occurs to creative people often enough that “putting it out there” is just as big a job as creating the thing in the first place.? This part of the process needs a different way of thinking, a different way of working.? It needs your time and attention.

This is a problem that a lot of creatives have – we want to just breeze through this part.?

We want to hold onto some kind of fantasy that all we have to do is make the art? – that if it’s good enough it should sell itself.? Which is bullshit.

This part does take time and love and attention.? If you want to actually sell your work, this part is just as important as the creation part.? And in fact, this part – the marketing piece – can be as fun and creative as the creation part.

I have a lot to say about how the way you market your work can (and should!) be a light itself, a way of sending inspiration and putting your message out into the world.? The way your market your work can be a GIFT to the people who experience it, which I think is the best way to build a sustainable creative business.

But I do have a Creative Business Incubator inside the Creative Dream Circle with hours and hours and hours of videos on this so I will digress.

Most of us want to breeze through this part because to give it love and time and attention means to be present with how we actually feel about selling our creative work which is fraught.? It’s fraught for EVERYONE.

Making a living selling your creative work is vulnerable and scary just as much as it’s fulfilling and thrilling.

And the only way through that (with integrity) is to be with it – all of it.

See, I keep thinking that it’s going to get easier.? That I’ve been making a living with my creative work for so long that I should be used to this by now and it should be easy by now.

But it’s not.

And the faster I step back into the real story, that it’s not easy but it’s not impossible, the sooner I can start walking this path.

The treasure is always right where you don’t want it to be.

Your gifts, strengths and sources of power are hidden/trapped inside the fears, doubts, limiting beliefs, inner critics, etc.

Through healing and transformation you liberate them so that you can use them to build the path that leads to where you want to be – in this case, successfully and happily selling your creative work.

When you skip that part you wind up working against yourself.?

You either will find reasons to not put it out there or you’ll put it out there in ways that don’t really support it in selling the way it wants to sell.

So today I am anticipating spending as much time transforming my fears, doubts, limiting beliefs + inner critics (using the Un-Sticking Station inside the Creative Dream Circle) and using what I learn in that work to start implementing my ideas for putting the cards out there.

My plan is to start with a bike ride. I always work best if I leave the house and either walk or bike for a bit.

Then go to a coffee shop with my journal, cards and laptop.? Pick a card to help guide my next steps, journal about it, and then get to work.

I’ll see you back here tomorrow for an update.