Discomfort Resilience: Learning to Stay With the Creative Process

Suzanne Allard
Jul 22
3 min read

| BRAVE, JOYFUL AND FULL OF POSSIBILITY |

Your Creative Adventure.

Discomfort Resilience: Learning to Stay With the Creative Process

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about discomfort and creativity.

I recently heard the Buddhist nun and teacher Pema Chödrön use the phrase "discomfort resilience." She was talking about life in general—our capacity to stay present with uncertainty, fear, and difficult emotions instead of always trying to escape them. As soon as I heard it, I thought about how deeply it applies to making art.

Creating requires us to become willing to experience so many uncomfortable things.

There is the uncertainty of not knowing if an idea will work. There is the vulnerability of trying something new and possibly failing. There is the self-doubt that creeps in when our painting doesn't look the way we imagined it would. There is the fear of sharing our work and wondering how it will be received.

And honestly, I've been experiencing a lot of this myself lately.

I’m in a bit of a blocked phase right now, which is always interesting because I know enough about creativity to understand that these seasons are normal—and yet they still feel challenging when I’m in the middle of one. I have ideas, I have materials, I have plenty of experience, and still there are moments when creating feels harder than I think it should.

I’m realizing more and more that this is exactly where discomfort resilience comes in.

The goal isn’t to eliminate fear, self-doubt, and all those other uncomfortable feelings. That isn’t possible. Pushing them away is suppression, and that’s no bueno. They don’t really go anywhere—they just wait and come back. Those feelings often show up because we’re stretching, exploring, and moving into territory where we don’t have all the answers.

The practice I’m learning is actually to lean into them with a "Bring it on!" mentality. Instead of resisting them, I relax and invite them to exist (since they do anyway), allowing them to pass through. They are energy, after all, and energy moves. It doesn’t stay static if we don’t fight it.

We can feel vulnerable and still put some marks on a page.

I don’t know any artists who don’t deal with this in some way, shape, or form.

I think this is one of the greatest gifts of creating. It teaches us that discomfort doesn’t necessarily mean "stop." Sometimes it means, "You’re growing. Hang in there."

So if you’re in a season where creating feels easy and joyful, enjoy every minute of it. And if you’re in a season where you’re wrestling with doubt or feeling stuck, know that you’re not alone. This is part of the creative path too.

Maybe the question isn’t, "How do I get rid of this discomfort?"

Maybe it’s, "How can I become someone who can allow it to move through? Can I handle this unpleasant feeling?"

One thing that helps me is to notice the feeling the moment it shows up. Instead of getting caught up in the story my mind wants to tell, I try to feel the sensation in my body. If I can, I close my eyes. I relax my shoulders. I unclench my jaw. I breathe. And I let the feeling move through instead of trying to push it away.

I have a feeling this is a practice I’ll be learning for the rest of my life. That’s okay. Maybe this isn’t a problem to solve, but simply part of being someone who creates.

So today I’m going to keep showing up, discomfort and all. I hope you will too.

We don't have to make a masterpiece. Just practice staying. That's how we build discomfort resilience.

With love, Suzanne

A few glimpses from the studio