Giving ideas space and time

This is a love letter to slowness, open spaces and trusting our internal rhythms.

I naturally lean toward pace and productivity, hard work, maximum effort, ticking boxes, getting stuff done.

For years, I chased down life. Chased down ideas. I felt a constant pressure, self-imposed, mostly, to do more, move faster… to perhaps outrun self-doubt with high output.

I was never good at resting, or giving myself or my creativity time to breathe.

But in recent years, I’ve had to do things very differently. And I have learned to see things very differently too.

A stretch of ill health gave me no choice but to slow down. To rest. To stop pushing. To sit in the stillness I would’ve once rushed right past or filled right up.

And in that slowing down, I can now see just how unhelpful and unhealthy my old pace was.

Some of the best, most interesting creative moments? They don’t arrive when they’re being chased. They arrive when they’re being gently coaxed and given space to unfurl. They sneak up when I’m doing not much. When I’m sitting quietly, letting my thoughts drift with no goal, no plan. When I’m messing about in my sketchbook with no expectation of outcome. When I’m playing with art supplies and paper with no ambition of producing something important. That’s when ideas start to arrive, to call to me, to surprise me.

But giving yourself that kind of space is hard. It can feel wrong, lazy and unproductive.

We’ve been taught to chase the result, to be productive at all costs. But honestly?

I now realise that ideas often appear when we stop trying so hard. I’ve learned that good ideas rarely arrive on demand. They need room. They need time. They need the kind of space that we often rush to fill.

There’s a concept in Gestalt therapy I love and have mentioned before called the fertile void. It’s the space between things. The gap before the next step. And it can be rich, potent, wildly creative. Not because you're doing more, but because you're doing less. Trusting more. Forcing less.

There’s a reason we say, “let it percolate.” Real creativity isn’t a sprint. It’s more like a long, weird, wonderful conversation. You can’t always force it, or even see it happening.

But that doesn’t mean it isn’t. I used to panic in those quieter stretches when nothing seemed to be happening. Now, I try to make room for them, welcome them, positively embrace them.

Because not every season is meant for high output. Some are for wandering. Some are for wondering. And some are just... for waiting. Not every idea needs action right away. Some just need to be held. Noticed. Listened to. Kindled and coaxed. Allowed to percolate…

The book I show in the video is Folkish by Victionary Press, Hong Kong published May 2025.

Types of sketchbook

Here are some of the sketchbooks I like, but sketchbooks are a personal preference and come in so many different shapes, sizes and varieties, the sketchbook that is right for me, may not be right for you.

The best sketchbook to use is always the one you already own.

1. The Venezia Book from Fabriano

2. Stillman & Birn, Zeta Range

3. The Ebony Artist Book from Daler Rowney

4. Dylusions Creative Journal Large from Ranger

5. Seawhite of Brighton Pocket Concertina

6. Talens Art Creation Sketchbooks

   (Some of these links are affiliate links, if you buy something through them, I might earn a small commission, at no extra cost to you. I only ever share the products that I actually use. )

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