How Can Creative and Sensitive People Better Manage Stress and Anxiety?
How to Change Stressful Perceptions and Reactions
There are countless experiences in our lives that can lead to the many varieties of stress, fatigue, worry, trauma, unhealthy self-regard, insecurity, shyness, and other anxiety-related experiences.
But the idea is not to “eliminate stress” - as if that were even possible - it is to be more aware of how our reactions can impact our wellbeing and creative expression, and manage emotions that interfere.
Actor Annette Bening, for example, notes about insecurity: “You want to be in a place of uncertainty, a place that maybe something surprising could happen.”
As creative people, we are more likely to have the trait or temperament of high sensitivity, or sensory processing sensitivity.
Being a highly sensitive or high sensory person, we may experience many positive aspects of the trait, such as being more empathetic, aware of nuances, and creative.
But we can also be more reactive and vulnerable to stress and anxiety, from sensory overload, for example.
This audio is AI-generated from some of the article text:
~~~~
Related audio podcast:
Psychotherapist, and author Julie Bjelland, LMFT, specializes in helping highly sensitive and neurodiverse people. She writes in a post on her site:
“Imagine there is a motor on the inside of you.
Some people have a fast motor and some people a slow motor and then of course there is everything in between.
Most people whose motor is too fast experience feelings of anxiety.
You might notice things like…
Reactive emotionally
Overwhelmed
Irritable
More annoyed or agitated
Lose creativity
Might lack focus and feel all over the place
Maybe you fidget or have to constantly move or stay busy
You might get stomachaches, headaches or notice pain more in your body, like your back, and lots more
A fast paced motor = Anxiety
Some people have been anxious their whole life and might not even know there is another way.
Some people go for awhile and do their self care and start feeling better but new stressors come up and they drop their tools and the anxiety motor speeds up.”
From "HSPs and Anxiety" - see the Highly Sensitive and Neurodivergent Blog by Julie Bjelland.
Here is a short [silent] video of mine about one of her free classes: High Sensitivity and Anxiety -
~~~
The Impact of Creative Traumatic Experiences
Dr Mihaela Ivan Holtz of Creative Minds Psychotherapy writes about how much "trauma from past performances or other creative endeavors can affect you in many ways" such as
*self-doubt
*fear of failure
*wanting to do great things but not having the energy
*emotional flashbacks
*anxiety, depression
Dr Holtz suggests "some ways to begin healing through your creative practices” including:
1. Give Yourself Permission to Create Imperfectly: Trauma can instill a fear of imperfection, but healing requires to let go of the need for your work to be flawless.
Allow yourself to create without judgment. The act of creation itself is valuable, regardless of the outcome..."
See more in her article How to Return to Performing After a Traumatic Creative Experience.
~~~
Here are excerpts from another article by Julie Bjelland:
“Highly sensitive people are even more susceptible to fears leading to panic, which means it is even more essential for us to be filling up the positivity tank to counter all that negative and to reduce the negative input you are receiving.
Why is this so important? If you are falling apart, taking in all the negative that doesn’t help anyone, including you, your family, your children, your work, or the world.
We have a responsibility as sensitive people to be sure we are taking care of our balance in the best way possible.
Suggestions for highly sensitive people
Limit watching or reading negative news stories and soak in more positive information.
If you feel you must keep up to date, scan headlines but don’t deep dive into tragic or painful stories right now and be sure to balance it with lots of uplifting, positive, or funny stories.”
Probably most of these suggestions can be helpful, whether or not you consider yourself a highly sensitive person.
On the Sensitive Empowerment site of Julie Bjelland, LMFT, you can find many articles, books, podcast, free webinars, courses, the Sensitive Community and other resources to help manage emotional health and thrive more.
~~~~
Creative insecurity
Actor Annette Bening notes: “When you’re a creative person, whatever your field — writing or painting or singing, acting — there’s always a certain amount of insecurity or uncertainty or there’s a search going on and, in a way, that never really stops.
But, she adds, “You want to be in a place of uncertainty, a place that maybe something surprising could happen.”
Related podcast post:
~~~~
Related:
~~~~
The image at the top of a car interior is from a HeartMath article. Here are some excerpts:
How to Change Stressful Perceptions and Reactions
"Science has shown that positive emotions can help shift and replace our stress-producing feelings and perceptions.
“This serves to counterbalance the depleting effects from our stressful reactions and also positively affects our psychological and physiological levels."
The article suggests a strategy to help "become a conscious director of our emotional nature and stressful reactions" is to practice self-monitoring:
"As you start your day, and occasionally throughout the day, ask yourself the following questions:
"What am I feeling right now? Are my mind and emotions churning out worry and stressful projections regarding future outcomes, or do I feel resilient and balanced in my decisions, actions and responses to whatever the day brings?
"Am I remembering that I have the choice to take pause and weigh out my heart’s responses and suggestions — before falling into the same old mental and emotional reactions that lower my spirit and drain the energy needed to create and operate effectively?"
See more in post Creating a Counterbalance: How to Change Stressful Perceptions and Reactions with Inner Ease.
HeartMath engages in research on heart rate variability (HRV), and develops biofeedback tools to "improve heart rhythm patterns for increased health in mind, emotions and body." Follow link to the article on their site to learn more.
~~~~