Running on Empty

For those who are old enough, that title just triggered the Jackson Brown classic playing in your head. Unfortunately for most of us working in the arts we hit that "running on empty" moment many times in our career. It's that point where you have just got nothing left in that tank and you need to find a source of energy to get you through.

It's that feeling that you bandaid over when you get the great feedback, have a funding win, or see people getting joy and success out of the work you have put into a project or event.

I have had the privilege of getting to know some amazing people through my role on the Arts Ablaze team. I have only had the beginnings of a conversation with Jeff and Julie Crabtree and I am thinking that we all need to learn much more about their research. Living with a Creative Mind is a book and website that explores the creative mind and creative process. Jeff is a composer and performer. Julie is a psychologist. Together, their work has created a tool for all creatives to explore better ways of caring for ourselves. You can see them at Arts Ablaze on Thursday 3 October presenting a keynote, with a live broadcast being fed into CQUniversity campuses across Australia.

The way we think can sometimes be challenging for others and isolating for the creative thinker. I am observing this in the next generation right now with the mental health impact of not fitting into the "norm". I for one am looking forward to getting my hands on this publication and getting strategies in place for myself and my fellow creatives

to fill my tank and avoid future traps and pitfalls created often by ourselves, by our industry and by society's expectations on what the arts can deliver on the smell of an oily rag.