Feeling emptied out is no way to create.
And yet, the artists I know who teach all feel emptied out by the end of the year. I recently completed a brief “Psychological Richness and Life Satisfaction in Music Teachers” research survey. I was asked to choose among these categories:
- I love my job and feel very fulfilled- I could do this for the rest of my life, and never get tired of it!”
- “My job is great, but sometimes it can be overstimulating”
- ”I have a good job, but my real joys and passion comes from other domains in my life”
- ”It’s a fine job, but I’m not necessarily excited to do it everyday”
- ”My job is too over stimulating, and I do not know if I could do this long-term”
The truth is that I chose the top category but also it can be too overstimulating.
So I let go of active creation for a while. I focus on other projects (a little gardening, a little reading, some crossword puzzles) and trust that the creativity will come back, when I’m not feeling so emptied out by a year of filling up my students’ minds.