Voices

What do you do with so many voices pushing you in so many directions that make you feel like you just want to break? This seems to be the season for so many of my peers where they feel unable to pick themselves up from the onslaught of analysis, but they do only to be put back into the same position once again. The easy route would be to play the "cool" approach and brush it off like it doesn't matter (its a natural part of the process for your art to go into a slump right?) , but when you are spending 10 to 12 hours a day putting your guts into something it is nearly impossible to slough it off all cool and collected. So you work harder and dig deeper hoping that the process will lead you to some new and unexpected turn you never could have predicted. I want to say "great" if that is all that it takes than I'll just double my output and eventually I will come to the answer, but that is not really what its about either- its more complex than that. Having been outside of the academic sphere for nearly 8 years before returning to graduate school I have experienced the complete inattention and intense lows that one can go through in their artist practice, but I still kept creating. Why? That I cannot answer, but I think somewhere within this thought is what makes art worthwhile. You do it just because, because you have to and nothing and no one can stop you. There is a will that cannot be deterred. Its not easy and often takes more than it gives, but if you have to do it than you can alleviate the frustrations that overwhelm you, throw your hands in the air and keep going.