Over the years, as you struggled to fit your creative life around all the demands of your everyday responsibilities, you carefully guarded whatever moments you were able to steal for yourself.
Now that you're retired, or at least thinking about retiring, it seems as though you will have all the time you need to create. You don't have to go to an office or shop for eight hours a day. Lots of time!
But there is one aspect of creative life that we sometimes overlook, and this new freedom to create could slowly dim your creative spark and leave you wondering why you wanted to create in the first place.
Creative people describe this feeling in different ways: you have writer's block, your muse is missing, you're just too busy/tired/overwhelmed.
When you have no ideas left, there just might be a reason.
But often what really happens is that you have drained the well and you aren't refilling and refreshing it. You've spent so much time and energy on your creative output that you forgot about - or neglected - your creative input.
This happens to all creatives to a greater or lesser extent. You focus on a project, you pour all your energy (or at least all the energy that isn't drained by the demands of day-to-day living) into it, and you spend every spare minute devoted to creating the perfect story, painting, quilt, cabinet. In short, you become dedicated to the project, and the underlying creativity gets ignored.
When you're retired, when you have more time and energy that isn't being demanded by the dreaded day job, it's possible for that focus, that dedication, to quickly overshadow absolutely everything else until the project is complete. It can drain you of your creative energy and leave you with no reserve for the next project.
In order to create, you need to feed your creativity. You need to fill the well. You need to consume the product of someone else's creativity and find inspiration and passion in their creations.
You can look for a wishing well, or you can find a well of creativity and keep re-filling it. The choice is up to you. (Pro Tip: One of them works a LOT better!)
As a writer I read other writers' works to learn from them. I study their craft and the techniques they use to create their worlds and their stories. I learn from their work. I am sure fabric artists and painters and woodworkers do the same thing; they learn new skills from watching the work of others - and in the age of the Internet it's so much easier to find someone to learn from. Thousands of video, audio, and text lessons and workshops are available online at every hour of the day or night, all within a few keystrokes (and sometimes the application of your credit card). That is not what I am talking about.
I am talking about being a consumer of creative content, and that's also available online as well as in person.
If you're a visual artist, go to a museum or an art gallery. Soak in the beauty that your fellow artists have created. Let it speak to your heart, not your head, and nurture your own creative energy. Don't focus on the brush strokes, or mentally catalog the different schools of art represented. Find something that makes you feel good and just look at it as a whole.
We can't all take a jet to Paris to visit the Louvre, but there are local art museums and galleries, and many museums now offer video tours online
If music is your outlet, go to a concert or a recital, or listen to something that brings you joy. Don't pay attention to the bowing technique of the cellist, or the fingering of the guitarist, of the breath control of the sax player. Listen to the music, the wave of sensation that comes with letting yourself sink into the sound, and let it fill you.
If you don't have a concert or theater venue nearby, look for online and streaming alternatives. Make it an event. Dim the lights, shut off the phone (just like you do in the theater-you do turn your phone off in the theater, don't you?), and let yourself enjoy the show!
If you're a storyteller, watch a movie, or read a book, just to enjoy being entertained by a good story. Don't analyze what you're reading, or watching, while you're doing so, save that for later. For now, let yourself be entertained.
Yes, you may look back on the experience later and gain some insight into how that particular artist (of whatever persuasion) made you feel their art, the product of their creation. But in order to examine how the artist made you feel you first have to allow yourself to really feel their creation. You have to fill the well before you can analyze its contents.
Filling the well is a vital activity for a creative person. We need that outside stimulus to continue creating our own worlds, our own visions. Without it we can become stale, stuck in the rut of our own minds.
We may not realize how much that day job brought those outside influences into our lives. A casual conversation in the lunch room or on a coffee break might remind us of a movie or television show we should try. A drink after work could spark questions about an obscure piece of history, or casual gossip could get us thinking about "What if?"
Personally I have to admit that writing murder mysteries has allowed me to safely (and even profitably) vent some frustrations that came from my nine-to-five life, though I am quite happy to no longer have that particular inspiration.
But in retirement we may not have those casual interactions. The days of comparing your current binge-watch with your office mates are over. But that doesn't mean we can't continue enjoying the things we love.
Certainly learn from other creatives, but you need to also give yourself permission to savor their output. Let their passion and hard work bring joy and renewed creativity into your life.