When Bob and I committed to traveling this spring to Tuscany, I knew from friends and reading I’d done that we would do a lot of walking. I just didn’t imagine how much.
At a rough guess, we walked between 5 and 10 miles a day. All that walking burned off the pasta and pastries we were eating.
Well, the walking and the towers. Wait, let me capitalize that…TOWERS!
Bob and I climbed five towers in Tuscany, towers with worn stone steps, some steep, with walls pressing closely in on you on either side as you curved around and around, up and up. And the tower steps in Pisa, as you can imagine, had definite slants. The shortest climb was 150+ steps. The longest climb was 400 steps. Yes, 400 steps.
I admit it, I impressed myself, discovering I have more strength and stamina than I give myself credit for.
But those towers and their stairways also taught me these creative lessons:
- Pay attention to warnings and signs. Just like at our amusement parks here in the US, several of these towers had notices warning people with heart conditions, vertigo, etc. not to climb. Obviously these climbs were not going to be easy. As I waited in line to climb those 400 steps, I had to think seriously about whether I was really willing to do it. When you start a new project, pay attention to the warnings and signs. Is it possible the project will take longer than anticipated? Will it require more energy or money than you originally planned for? Are you really willing to work that hard?
- Once you’ve committed to the climb, stay committed. Certainly, if I had reached a point where I thought my health and well-being was threatened, I would have stopped climbing, but I wasn’t going to back out on my commitment to climb because it was hard, or because my endurance was tested. In our civilized world, it’s too easy to shy away from challenges that test our limits and endurance. But I couldn’t do that on most of those towers. Once I started up, I had to keep going because there were 30 people behind me and nowhere else to go, the stairs were too narrow.
- Pace yourself. The longer the climb, the more important it is to be the tortoise rather than the hare. Bob and I were second in line for that climb up those 400 steps. An older gentleman was first. The pressure of everyone behind him probably made him move too quickly and he dropped to the side at one point to recover his breath. Pace yourself with any creative project. A novel, for instance requires more time and a different kind of energy than a poem or short story. So don’t get worn out and tempted to quit before reaching the top because you pushed yourself too hard.
- Just put one foot—or word or brushstroke or whatever—in front of the other. As I climbed those 400 steps I frequently reminded myself of an effective tactic I used when in labor with my three sons–don’t think about how much farther or longer, just stay in the moment. Get through this contraction, i.e. just move up one more step, write one more page, call one more client.
- Climb with others. If I had had the tower to myself, it would have been easy to stop somewhere along the way, turn around and climb back down. But Bob encouraged me, and, as I said, I had 30 people behind me. As a creative, support and help is so important because your work can be so isolating. So seek out support and creative companions to climb with.
- Celebrate when you get to the top or accomplish your goal. Always honor your efforts. Acknowledge the work and commitment. Bob would give me a big hug. We’d have our picture taken. And then we’d turn and…
- Take in the new perspective. Bob and I saw Tuscany in ways and with views and perspectives that people who didn’t climb the towers couldn’t. We discovered a real sense of the geography, topology, size and architecture of the surroundings that we couldn’t have achieved otherwise. And one tower even had trees planted at the top!
Every creative climb has its challenges and rewards, of course. And chances are, every creative climb teaches you something about your strength, endurance and limits, and changes you in ways big and small.
But the rewards are definitely worth it. The views are breathtaking.
(And if you’d like help, support and encouragement climbing the 400 steps of your creative project, check out my personalized virtual retreat days.)