Over the last month, I have received so many messages from songwriters calling for help. They are saying things like “I just don’t feel great” or “I’m not in a great space right now”. They’re also telling me they haven’t written songs in months, maybe even years, and they know that they want to be doing this again.

I really empathize with them. I feel for them. I’ve felt like this before. But I don’t anymore, and haven’t for a long time.

These people are calling for help because they know my story and that I have found a path to wellness and connection through creating, and they want this for themselves. They want to know how I’m doing now, in this particular time in our world.

And I tell them.

I tell them that I feel connected. I feel open. I feel balanced. I feel resilient. And I believe that’s because I’m in a space of creating ALL THE TIME. For the past 6 years, I’ve been writing songs every single week, and that process of creating every single week over time, has allowed me to access what I, and many others, call “flow”.

I am beautifully living in a state of flow.

That does not mean that every song that I write is amazing. It means that I’m showing up to my creative practice and creating. Keep myself open to the connection with that creative energy and accepting whatever I receive and doing something with it. There are a lot of huge benefits of growth from doing that – one that I talk about often, resilience. But also many more.

I feel like it’s this process of creating regularly that keeps me open. It keeps me open to new ideas and new possibilities. It feels like the tap to my ‘joy’.
By being open, I am not weighed down by the things I’m not doing or my limitations or what I’m not capable of. I’m not buying into fear that can really ramp up, especially at a time like now. It’s so easy to feel the weight of the world on your shoulders. Creativity lifts that for me.

Creativity keeps me open to possibilities and that changes how I feel.

So if you are a songwriter who is not feeling great, if you haven’t written songs in a while…

The time to create is NOW!

Creativity is a space that will help you to feel more about yourself. It might feel a little uncomfortable or unfamiliar at first to get to that place of creative joy, but I encourage you to simply take action. Because I know you’re going to feel different.

What is something that you can do that will open you up to more possibilities? What is that creative thing that you can be doing? Because whatever that is – songwriting, art, poetry, gardening – this is the time to create.

Let creativity be your outlet. Let creativity be your mechanism that helps lift you in these trying times. Let creativity help you find your joy again.

If you’re enjoying these tips, please stay in touch. Reply to this email and tell me how you are using creativity to become open. I’d love to share more with you around this space. And if you are looking for some more help on Getting Creatively Free, check out my workshop dates here.

Here’s to your joy,
Francesca


P.S. If you missed it last month, I want to share this again. Want to know more about how my creative practice has changed my life, check out this video filmed from my holiday apartment in Nice, France via Brisbane thanks to amazing nutritionist and coach Trang from The Dream Life Project.

Francesca de Valence is an Australian artist and songwriter obsessed with inspiring people all over the world to become creatively free. Speaking and performing on stages around the world and through her work as founder of global tech phenomenon and songwriting community, I Heart Songwriting Club, Francesca is an ‘uplifting, enlightening, and empowering’ force (Music is My Muse).