I was feeling stuck and the creative juices did not want to flow.
This spring was long in coming in the Northeast and between that and being very busy in March and April (a good thing!) I got somewhat behind on my blogging and social media posts. It wasn’t so much because of a lack of time, but more because I was feeling stuck and the creative juices did not want to flow. I did do posts and even weekly quick tips and kept plugging away at things, but nothing really inspiring came to me, particularly for my longer blog posts. I sat with this ‘stuckness? and tried not to worry about it too much as forcing something to happen just wasn’t going to work. Beating myself up for this wasn’t going to serve any purpose.
Focused on taking care of me and doing things that filled me up with joy.
What I did instead was to focus on taking care of me and doing things that fill me up with joy. The main thing that does that this time of year is working on my patio garden. It becomes my outside office for the summer. It is filled with beautiful flowers and lots of color and it helps to recharge my soul. It did just that! Low and behold I am now motivated and wanting to write. In fact, I am starting to write a book around mindful riding filled with my quick tips and suggestions for a more mindful and focused life on and off the horse. I realized that during this stuck time lots of things were brewing in my head and I needed just to get away from worrying about producing things. As I took a break, took care of me and let go of forcing my creativity, ideas began to come together and I now feel recharged.
Sometimes plateaus are reached and riders can feel stuck and frustrated.
As I was thinking about this I thought I would share it with you as this can happen in riding and training as well. Sometimes plateaus are reached and riders can feel very stuck and frustrated. They may feel that no progress or learning is happening. In fact, it is in these times that real learning and creativity is occurring. When frustration is replaced with patience and self-compassion wonderful things can occur. You will suddenly realize you have reached another level in your riding. So, next time you feel stuck and frustrated be kind to yourself and take a break from trying so hard. Keep moving along but don’t try and force results. You will be pleasantly surprised how eventually self-growth and positive things will occur. Be patient.