This concept is something I’ve been increasingly aware of. Creativity is a necessary part of my life. It’s who I am and when I’m not providing some kind of outlet for it, I feel off-balance and ungrounded. The other side of that coin, however, is the foundation of safety or security I personally need in place in order to create.

I recognized this a few years ago, at the height of my new creative writing path, when I was deep into writing my memoir, publishing essays and literary pieces left and right. In those heady, early days of tapping into this other part of my creativity, I was taking it for granted that my corporate healthcare writing work would continue at its steady, reliable pace. That was a mistake, and in the wake of budget cuts and operational changes on the client side, I realized I needed to focus equal attention on my business.

It took about a year, but I built that side of my writing life back up and promised myself I wouldn’t neglect it again, because the balance of structure, income and work I value tremendously is necessary for freeing my creativity all around. The post this morning by Suleika Jaouad explores her own challenges and solutions for finding that structure, or scaffolding, as she phrased it. It’s worth a read.