🥲 Plot twist: Let's talk about perfectionism

Happy Saturday, creator! Plot twist: We have no prompt recap to share with y’all today — we haven’t published a single prompt since our last newsletter. We’ll talk about why in the creativity affirmation section (which is first up in this issue).

Thankfully, we’re in a better place and excited to share fresh prompts this week, including some of our own art! Make yourself a cozy drink and settle in: we’re getting real today.

Joyful Creators Club went quiet this week. Although “we” are a business, there’s just 1 human behind the scenes here (it’s me, Mel, I’m the human 👋).

And this human took the week to process immense grief and homesickness after a major family event.

Capitalism manufactures insane pressure for artists (and pretty much everyone) to be perfect. I’m not immune to that pressure.

All week long, I beat myself up for falling behind on Joyful’s prompts.

Some days, while running on total fumes, I forced myself to sit down at my laptop and furiously type away, trying to “catch up”. Surprise: I couldn’t manage it.

It took time and practice, but I eventually accepted that I needed to take this week off — to heal, exist unapologetically, and listen out for the messages the cosmos have for me.

I met that nasty voice in my head with grace and understanding, instead of simply trusting it as a source of truth.

I reminded myself that, here at Joyful, we embrace imperfection. We’re not afraid to slip up, in public. We’re honest about how the messiness of real life impacts our creative practice. We give ourselves all the grace, space, and understanding.

I’d love to get to a place where all my content is done and scheduled a quarter in advance and running on autopilot. But I’m not there yet. And that’s okay.

If you’re in a similar spot this holiday season, please join me in showing yourself love, grace, and compassion, wherever you happen to be on your journey — especially if you’re not where you “want to be” yet.

You may find some comfort in our affirmations; I know I have. Check ‘em out below.

Creativity prompts go live every morning, Dublin time.

We’re adjusting our prompt schedule to post (most of) the prompts meant to go out last week. So if some of these seem like repeats, it’s because they are!

Creativity prompts go live every morning, Dublin time.

I’ve grown and learned so much more from this week off than I ever would have if I’d “kept up appearances” by forcing myself to keep publishing. And because I’ve been processing my grief through junk-journaling, I also have some new art to show for it.

So I don’t consider this week a failure — quite the contrary, actually.

What advice would you share with someone in my situation? Ever gone through a similar experience? I’d love to hear about it, if you’re willing to reply with your thoughts. ❤️

Until next weekend — stay self-compassionate,

Mel
Founder, Joyful Creators Club

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Joyful Creators Club aims to be an ethical, equitable, and accessible business. We take care to spotlight creations from artists who are marginalized, and we don’t allow generative AI creations anywhere in our community — 100% human-crafted only, always. For more, please read our club’s ethos.