The artist’s block isn’t about lacking skill, inspiration, or even desire — she loves making things. The block is that she’s trying to get somewhere with her art. It has to matter. It has to be enough. It has to be important. She should have done more. Each of these “shoulds” creates a destination, and the striving toward that destination is exactly what prevents her from creating.
Joe demonstrates this in real time: “You’re still trying to get somewhere, trying to figure it out.” The moment she tries to hold onto the insight he just gave her — to codify it into a technique, to make it reliable — she’s doing it again. Making it complicated. Going to the penthouse.
“You’re still trying to get somewhere, trying to figure it out.”
Creative flow isn’t somewhere you arrive. It’s what happens when you stop trying to arrive. The unfinished pieces sitting in her studio aren’t blocked by lack of skill or time — they’re blocked by the weight of importance she’s placed on them.
Related Concepts
- Source is always there — just drop down
- Enjoyment dissolves procrastination
- Pushing creates the opposite of flow
- Art is not important, and that’s freedom
- Life is art, not separate from it