Stuck in a creative rut? Let’s get back into the flow!
“The reason creativity is so fascinating is that when we are involved in it, we feel that we are living more fully than during the rest of life.”
―
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi- Creativity: Flow and the Psychology of Discovery and Invention.
And, when we’re not involved in it? We really notice the difference! We feel stagnant, uninspired, lethargic. Not just in our work but it can quickly start to seep into all areas of our life. Add in the pressure of needing our creativity for our business and our bread & butter, and we get to throw in a whole lot of anxious, fear-driven emotions into the mix as well. It’s normal to feel the ebbs and flows in our creativity. A creative rut, however, generally carries a heavier sense of hopelessness and can last longer if we aren’t aware of what’s happening and know how to manage ourselves through it.
A number of clients and creative people I know found they could really tap into their creativity throughout isolation – once some of the initial pressures and unknowns settled into place, time and space became Creativity’s best friend. Others, with all of the challenges and unsettling issues related to health, family dynamics, business and finances, are now finding themselves feeling caught in a creative dry spell and struggling to find the creative inspiration they want personally and that their business needs for this next phase.
Trying to be creative when we’re just not feeling it can be frustrating and challenging at the best of times. It can and I think it is, even more heightened right now when we feel we’re under pressure to do so and are feeling such a strong sense of powerlessness around our day-to-day lives and what the future may bring.
Here are a few of the things I personally do, and have learnt from many creatives around me, to help regain creative power and welcome the flow back into all areas of our life.
1. Create space by closing down all the tabs.
Get all of the basics sorted as much as possible first. There’s no such thing as the perfect time and space to create, and waiting for a moment where there’s nothing that needs to be done, other than sit blissfully in a creative state, is just another form of procrastination. But if you have a long to-do list of business and life admin hanging over your head you are not going to be able to get into a creative space and flow. Close as many tabs as possible (physically and mentally) and get the small things out of the way so they are not weighing heavily in the back of your mind. It will provide some clarity and start to open up space for creative sparks!
2. Shake some things up and get uncomfortable.
True creativity doesn’t come from doing the same things in the exact same way as you always do. Creativity wants to evolve and it needs different perspectives and experiences in order to do so. Get out of your normal day-to-day familiar surroundings and routine, try a completely different medium than what you normally work with and are used to, try something new that scares you… I know, it’s cliche but I would argue it’s also true so it's worth considering!
It doesn’t need to be some big and audacious thing (afterall, it’s 2020, we’ve got a few restrictions we need to comply with!). As someone who would normally be lucky enough to travel overseas a few times per year, my feet are itching but i’ve been finding joy and the sense of “newness + adventure” my personality needs in little micro-adventures that are possible within the confinements of lockdown and social distancing. Sometimes it’s as small as grabbing my camera and heading somewhere locally I wouldn’t normally go that gives me my hit of creative play and that sense of exploring I would normally only get while travelling.
Even when we can’t leave our home, make the most of the incredible offerings now available online – and make it something different to what you normally do! I enjoyed some of the online art classes I did during lockdown (the first time). They were fun but also easy and comfortable. I LOVED the Freediving breath-work classes I did though (not completely random, I had been wanting to do this for a while and was too nervous to try a full course). The classes completely threw me out of my comfort zone, taught me a lot about myself, boosted my confidence for having done it and that then carried through into my work and creative ideas afterwards. Whatever you can do, shake it up!
3. Be present to the small things.
Whenever I start to feel a creative block starting to sneak into all areas of life and I start to feel stagnant and uninspired, I can be sure I’m ignoring all of the small details of my life that are full of beauty, art and creativity (much less spending any time actually appreciating them!). My ceramic coffee cup is so beautifully handmade that it makes slowly sipping on my morning coffee a creative ritual… when i’m present enough to recognise it and appreciate it. There’s so much beauty in the little details, but they are normally the first things we stop appreciating when we’re busy or under pressure. Zoom back in, soak them all up, enjoy it and notice how appreciation turns into inspiration.
4. Build yourself an inspirational library… and lock yourself in it!
I am very lucky to have a creative home office/room overflowing with all of the art, books, fabrics, souvenirs, journals, everything inspiring and creative that I love. I treat this space as a sacred creative space instead of ‘just an office’, i’m aware of how lucky I am to have such a space and i'm mindful and respectful about how I use it and what goes in there. I can spend an hour looking through books and references and know I will get inspired by creative challenges and ideas. When I didn’t have this room, I had similar processes with everything in special boxes (treasure boxes if you will) and a couple of those boxes have come on trips around the world with me when I've known I would need them for specific projects! They mean a lot to me!
Collect things that inspire you, be it art books, images, quotes, fabrics, materials or souvenirs from your travels. When you get stuck, you’ll have a vast repository of ideas always waiting for you.
5. Sometimes you just gotta sit down and get on with it!
One of my favourite quotes I remind myself of when I’m starting to use feeling creatively stuck as a form of procrastination is from the award-winning author Ann Patchett, “Do you want to do this thing? Sit down and do it. Are you not writing? Keep sitting there. Does it not feel right? Keep sitting there. Think of yourself as a monk walking the path of enlightenment. Think of yourself as a high school senior wanting to be a neurosurgeon. Is it possible? Yes. Is there some shortcut. Not one I’ve found.”
You want to do this badly enough? You want to create? You want to live a creative life? You want a thriving creative business? Sit down and get on with it!
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“Wake up in the morning with a specific goal to look forward to. Creative individuals don’t have to be dragged out of bed; they are eager to start the day. This is not because they are cheerful, enthusiastic types. Nor do they necessarily have something exciting to do. But they believe that there is something meaningful to accomplish each day, and they can’t wait to get started on it. Most of us don’t feel our actions are that meaningful. Yet everyone can discover at least one thing every day that is worth waking up for. It could be meeting a certain person, shopping for a special item, potting a plant, cleaning the office desk, writing a letter, trying on a new dress….
Eventually most of the day should consist of tasks you look forward to, until you feel that getting up in the morning is a privilege, not a chore.”
― Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Creativity: Flow and the Psychology of Discovery and Invention
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