We were lucky to catch up with Emma Hampton recently and have shared our conversation below.
Emma, appreciate you making time for us and sharing your wisdom with the community. So many of us go through similar pain points throughout our journeys and so hearing about how others overcame obstacles can be helpful. One of those struggles is keeping creativity alive despite all the stresses, challenges and problems we might be dealing with. How do you keep your creativity alive?
Yes, last winter I went through some serious burnout so I really tried to focus to get my creative energy back. I found a few things that worked for me.
- Keep shifting the sources and outputs of creative focus.
Generally I try to find places where I know the creative energy flows into me, and not police it when I feel the need to let it out. For me, this may mean spending an intentional weekend in inspiring spaces (tasteful hotel lobbies, well-curated goods shops, random coffee shops across town), selecting a handful of well-curated design magazines to peruse, or getting a huge poster board paper and pulling out all of my markers and crayons to let it rip.
- Be selective/intentional about who I follow in my specific niche.
One of my favorite small facts is that the design building at UCLA has completely white walls throughout the entire building so the creativity isn’t distracted or falsely influenced. I think this principal can apply to anything. When I first started, I wanted to follow every single florist and quickly my mind got bogged down with designs, what-to-dos, what-not-to-do, what’s already been done. I felt like my brain and my social media feed was stepping in front of my creative flow. Now I’ve pared it back to only a handful who inspire me without challenging my process. It’s constantly evolving.
- Recognize what burn out feels like.
I believe energy and creative inspiration are closely linked. I know it’s time to switch it up or pause if I dread the studio or can’t wait to get done and take a nap. If my energy is no longer there, usually the quality of work isn’t either.
To avoid this day-to-day, I ensure we have enough staff to divide the work so the hours aren’t too long. I really try to get us out of the studio before the creative quality starts to drop. If we have more work to do, I try to switch to more left-brain tasks…packing, organizing, counting, etc.
To avoid long term burnout, I try my best to schedule rest days (although in the thick of the season I’m not great at this). Luckily, our work is quite seasonal so in the off season I try my best to recoup and catch up on all corners of my life.
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
I own and operate Roobarb Studio, a flower studio based in Venice CA. Through eclectic flower arrangements and unique community events, our goal is to foster organic warmth & inspiration amongst the community.
We’ve always admired the power a space holds over our emotions. From the candlelit kitchen table, to an enormous venue, to a special spot in nature – our peace, connectivity to loved ones, and happiness are deeply shaped by our surroundings. Roobarb is here to channel this power.
Since 2020, we’ve run our studio and most events out of my bungalow in Venice. However, we are launching a public-facing studio at the end of April. This will be for our day-to-day studio operations, however it’s connected to a coffee shop, so a few days a week we’ll open our doors for guests to admire our work and peruse our shop!
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
To me the most impactful quality is self-awareness.
- Knowing what you like/don’t like, being able to diagnose and self-soothe your feelings, being selective with who/what/where you spend your time. All of this streamlines into these patterns that help you float with ease and recognize areas that are meant for you and not. It’s the opposite of being lost.
- I truly believe this fosters confidence in yourself, which inspires others, which then feeds back to you with more and more joy.
- Ways to achieve this – start with a Meyers Briggs test, read the descriptions and begin to see what you think is true and not about yourself, I swear it was cheesy but all of those kids tests like do you like ripped jeans or baggy jeans…all of this starts to breed these patterns you recognize in yourself where you feel more comfortable. It then also allows you to grow and create new spaces that are still in your lane. Makes change more inviting
Before we go, any advice you can share with people who are feeling overwhelmed?
Usually for me overwhelmed comes from feeling like there are so many things I have to do and I don’t know where to start/don’t have enough time (i.e., stress).
– Make a list of everything – putting it down on paper stops it from swirling and grounds it into just another task. Write every single task down starting from shower, get the mail, to file your taxes, etc. The more you can check off the better you’ll feel.
– Check in on your sim status – food, sleep, water, hungover, headache, nutrients, exercise, caffeine, stress. Just gauge where you’re at, and then solve any of the problems that can be solved immediately
– Generally two glasses of water, a walk, and/or a shower solves about 90% of the initial chaos.
– Just begin. Accept it’s going to be hard but worth it. Start with the easy stuff. You’ll start crossing things off, and the productivity roll will flow and soon you’ll only have one or two tasks left.
Contact Info:
- Website: Roobarbstu.com
- Instagram: Roobarbstudio
