How to Read Your Creative Climate

Last weekend was Thanksgiving here in Canada, and (as per usual!), I’m feeling such a swell of relief at the cooler temperatures, greying skies, and the shift from green to red-gold in the trees. It’s like watching nature’s encore, where the gorgeous brights of the summer recede to the back and let the trees take the stage. Bold, yet peaceful.

It’s a nice reminder that even the process of rest & preparing to winter can be something to marvel at.

I’ve written here before about the new year vibes that autumn brings for me, and one thing that that keeps coming up is the feeling of seasonal shifts — how the smell of that northern wind in the air is enough to stir up the emotional dust and spark me to take action on the projects & changes I’d like to play with for the rest of the year.

The downside is, this newfound energy or year end atmosphere we’re all feeling can also bring a sense of artificial urgency.

We logically know that the clock doesn’t magically run out at midnight on December 31st, but the general vibe of “if you don’t get it done now, you’ll never get it done and your ideas will end up in an imaginary dumpster!” is strong — especially with creative folks.

It’s easy to start forcing things.

So… let’s not, shall we?

Wherever you are on the planet, it’s important to be able to work with the seasonal shifts to create that you feel — both internally and externally. But how can we balance these tugs and pulls and discern what shifts are right for us? What’s a genuine call with timing that works… and what is just plain old false urgency yanking us away from centre?

If you’re looking ahead to the last quarter of the year and finding yourself a touch overwhelmed, you might want to explore one question that often helps me:

What’s your creative weather and what’s your creative climate?
The difference? Let’s explore.

Your creative weather is the close range thinking and feeling you’re experiencing lately.

It’s is the ever-changing, day-to-day ups and downs of your experience with whatever it is you’re exploring creatively. So, your creative weather lately might be frantic or restful, for example, based on what’s going on in your life.

It will also be largely dependant on some external forces too, whether it’s a book deadline, a hobby you’re building, or personal life stuff coming up.

Creative weather is what’s happening outside your personal window right now.

Your creative climate, however? That’s the big picture stuff.

Creative climate is the broader values, themes, and callings that are run as an undercurrent of the overall tapestry of your life — that often seem unchanged by the weather.

It’s much longer range, and while these avenues tend to dip and flow alongside your creative weather, your creative climate doesn’t usually shift too drastically. (At least, not quickly!) If your creative climate lights up when you explore nature, for example, that’s likely still part of your creativity to this day.

You can use this concept of weather vs. climate to help you fine tune your next steps, because weather represents what’s happening now, while climate shows you where your creative heart is happiest.

Example: My creative weather right now is feeling a bit strained, like I really want to dive into five separate projects and get them going while I’ve got the energy. This isn’t a bad thing! But, when I factor in my creative climate — the picture shifts.

Instead of getting my hands dirty in a bunch of separate projects, my creative climate is reminding me that I’ve been wanting to play with one specific idea on a topic that I adore for more than a year now, and if I create some boundaries for that, this might be the perfect time to do it.

Creative weather can be noisy. But creative climate? It’s usually steady, powerful, and focused. 

In my experience, listening to it will always result in more flow and less stress — because it inherently pulls you away from false urgency that the more emotional, reactive side of creativity can induce.

Your creative weather might be urging you to speed up on a project or tackle something high stakes.

But your creative climate might be informing you that you always get overwhelmed this time of year, so more rest with your hobbies might be just the thing. (Or, maybe, like me, it’s telling you to finally get to that one juicy idea that’s not gone away this whole year.)

As always, there’s no right answer and the important thing is asking yourself the question in the first place.

Weather vs. climate. Play with it!

Some questions for you:

• How’s your creative weather these days?
• How does it compare to your creative climate?
• What theme or topic from your creative climate hasn’t been given its due yet this year? (For example, have you been wanting to start a podcast/blog/book/alpaca farm for ages, but haven’t taken a first small step yet? Is now the time to address that creative climate need?)
• If your creative weather is feeling unsettled, what boundaries can you put in place to help you?

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