How to deal with Creative Block

Recognizing Creativity

You know the feeling. When creativity flows out of you like a kind of energy you are channeling. You put pen to paper, paintbrush to canvas or plectrum to guitar. You bring to life something new, novel, exciting. This feels like the highest form of creativity. Getting lost in the moment. Forgetting everything else and focusing on the task at hand. It is pleasurable, intense at times, and above all, productive.

Pent-up emotions are expressed with speed and urgency. A performance may go from engaging to enthralling. A writer might chart out an entire vision for a novel in a matter of minutes. It is a peak, a high, a near wonderful state of being. In this state you are able to influence your surroundings or enrapture an audience.

The Issue With Creativity

Unfortunately, this sensation is not available to each of us at any time when we require it. It is hard to create from this seemingly elevated state on demand. As a result, people mostly create through a process of the methodical. That is, through habitual and entrenched activity.

This leaves you susceptible to blocks of various kinds. What could be worse for someone who knows the aforementioned feelings than a full-on block? Nothing. It is horrific to be stalled when your living depends on it. Horrendous to find your favourite hobby is not as easy as it once was.

It is disheartening to be barred from doing something that you know can give you and others great joy. There is no one reason why your creativity might be blocked. Life is complex and complicated. Different people are going through different stages of life at different times. It is common sense that you cannot be at your peak all of the time. This post will explore several common types of creative block and how to resolve them.

Mental block

There are certain people who think they just aren’t creative. People who imagine that creativity is something done by another group of people. Be they artists, musicians, directors or whoever. This is blocked thinking. This kind of thinking is a construct. Produced by the comparison between creations of great works and seemingly humble efforts. Anyone who can hold a pen can draw an image. But its unlikely they would think of drawing a simple doodle as an act of creativity.

Our inner critic announces the mental block. Left in place this voice can hinder long-term attempts to lead a fulfilling life. The inner critic compares what you are doing to the world around. It looks at to the greater body of work you may be contributing. Or the stand out stars in the field. The inner critic makes you give up. It saps your energy through it’s constant and malign presence. Beware this critic. It is capable of turning your once treasured pursuit into an ashtray of forgotten and faded hopes.

Dealing with Mental block

The voice of the inner critic is basically our own. That’s why it can be so influential. The way to deal with this is to know that we control it. It is possible to put an end to its negative energy. When negative thoughts arise in your mind, recognize them for what they are. Be aware that you are not those words, that you exist beyond your thoughts.

Realize that your creative work is exactly what it needs to be. Remember you can change your perspective. If you feel like you are not getting anywhere the inner voice reminds you of this fact. But just recognize that you are persistent, that this is a strength. Every avenue explored that doesn’t seem to lead anywhere is one that you don’t have to go down again.

Emotional Block

This is especially difficult for people who like to create from ‘the heart’. People who internalize difficult or challenging times from their lives often find it a source of inspiration. Others find life events can overwhelm them. These events prevent them from opening up creatively like they have done in the past. The spectrum of human emotions is broad. This is reflected in the barriers to creative activities we may encounter.

There are creators who bring forth beautiful things from dark places who may find they mellow with age and maturity and as they find stability. On the other side of the scale, there are people who are bubbling with exuberance and energy and can create until something tragic happens. Then it seems like the magic vanishes. This is the nature of the emotional block.

Dealing with Emotional block

Returning to your childhood happy place or recreating feelings of anxiety and despair for want of creation may be difficult to achieve. It’s hard to fake feelings, especially when trying to convince ourselves to produce content like we used to or provide bright ideas for our next project. However, time is a healer; given time everything is drawn into perspective. Events will morph in the distance of memory and things that seem important now will seem trivial later.

The future is out there. Racing towards us minute by endless minute. It is the coming time that you can invest in to deal with an emotional block. The past is gone. What you created in the past may have longevity. It may be valuable, but it is not your best. Your best is yet to come. There is something to believe in, that a future-you is looking back, smiling and willing you forward. Onward to bigger and better things.

Personal Block

Personal circumstances are more of a practical block than the previous two issues dealt with. Everyone has demands on their time. Basic needs such as eating and sleeping take up a sizeable chunk. Work life, family life and generally managing relationships all intrude on our mental and temporal space we need to create. It is such a shame when the priority level for our creative hobby gets lowered and lowered until we no longer practice.

Without the constant repetition and practice, we forget the skills. Once that has happened motivation drops and the other types of block start to kick in. As a relevant aside, there’s nothing like a newborn life to make you realize what sacrificing your time really means.

Dealing with Personal Block

The first thing to point out here is that sometimes life, the world, universe, natural order etc will prevent you from getting on with creative acts. But putting the thoughts of newly born babies and natural disasters aside, there are many ways to enhance your time management. There’s a vast literature of time management stuff out there, books, free pdfs online and videos. Whilst it may seem like common sense that we can all manage our time, I hear so many people complain that there’s not enough time in the day.

In a hectic lifestyle, it may be hard to get fifteen minutes to yourself each day. There are various disciplines you could take up to get around this impediment. Keeping a journal or notebook and making notes or drawings just quickly at the end of the day will gradually build up to something that you can draw inspiration from and work with. Given enough time, it will make you proud.

Poverty Block

I’m not talking here about the grinding and relentless poverty that affects the homeless and the destitute. Obviously, extreme poverty and the mental and social damage that results will impact creativity. What I am referring to is the practicality of not having the equipment you want to create with. Not being able to afford the lessons you need or some other material or social deprivation. It can block creativity because we have an ‘if only’ feeling.

This is a dangerous mental construct. We think that ‘if only’ we had the resources we could prosper; ‘if only’ we had the contacts we could break into the scene. As a result of the ‘if only’ ideation we become focused on the fact that we don’t have whatever it is and that affects our motivation. On top of that, it clouds any awareness of what we actually already have.

Dealing with Poverty Block

Not having what you think you need gives you the ability to improvise and overcome the perceived deficit. If you really want to convey a great idea, you will find a way no matter what your situation. It is possible to reach out and overcome any barrier given enough willpower. Take the example of a funded learning course, be it in an institution or delivered online, the scale doesn’t matter. If you are unable to afford the course because it is financially too demanding, take another free one, and another; until you build an alternative skill set.

Once you make enough money you could take the initial course. There are no get rich quick schemes without catches. Furthermore, the problem with getting rich quick is that the underlying issues which led to the need to get rich quick will be pervasive. People who get rich quick can also get poor quick.

Concluding Remarks

There is no silver bullet for being more creative. Creativity is a profound form of human activity which has been part of our make up from the time immemorial. We can all create and we can all create unique, wondrous things. You just need to find the time and deal with the mental precepts that are holding you back. It is really a question of mind over matter; you must use your mind to direct the matter.