How we enhance or interfere with our authentic creative expression
Why do we choose a creative life? It isn't easy or calm, it can be often fraught with uncertainty, anxiety and self-criticism. But we create anyway.
How can we stay inspired? (Aside from depending on that unreliable Muse who keeps failing to show.)
Responding to difficult times and situations
Maybe you too will appreciate this quote by Toni Morrison, written in 2004, following the presidential re-election of George W. Bush, and she was "feeling “helpless, depressed, unable to write”:
"This is precisely the time when artists go to work. There is no time for despair, no place for self-pity, no need for silence, no room for fear. We speak, we write, we do language. That is how civilizations heal."
From No Place for Self-Pity, No Room for Fear: Toni Morrison on the Artist’s Task in Troubled Times, The Marginalian post.
Another perspective I appreciate and find inspiring to keep doing the work:
“This is the true joy in life, being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one. Being a force of nature instead of a feverish, selfish little clod of ailments and grievances, complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy.
"I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the whole community and as long as I live, it is my privilege to do for it what I can. I want to be thoroughly used up when I die, for the harder I work, the more I live.
"I rejoice in life for its own sake. Life is no brief candle to me. It is a sort of splendid torch which I have got hold of for the moment and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations.” ― George Bernard Shaw
(See Facebook reel with actor Jeff Goldblum recalling this quote, responding to a question about what keeps him inspired.)
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Anxiety and creating
It may be a very imprecise term, but as creators we experience anxiety, perhaps regularly, and while some forms of it can drive creativity, anxiety often interferes or suppresses.
In his book Mastering Creative Anxiety, creativity coach and psychologist Eric Maisel, PhD asks, “Are you creating less often than you would like? Are you avoiding your creative work altogether? Do you procrastinate? That’s anxiety." He adds,
"Anxiety regularly stops creative people in their tracks and makes their experience of creating more painful than pleasurable.”
See more in my post How Can We Manage Our Creative Anxiety and Stress?
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Being creative and a Highly Sensitive Person
This trait or temperament, more technically known as sensory processing sensitivity, seems to be part of the identity and life of many, even most, artists.
Julie Bjelland, LMFT, is a psychotherapist and author specializing in helping highly sensitive and neurodivergent people.
She notes, "Anxiety or high stress is actually pretty common for highly sensitive people.
"Much of it has to do with an overloaded sensitive nervous system.
"We have an overly activated amygdala, for example, which causes that fight flight freeze response" and can increase anxiety."
Learn more and sign up for he free Masterclass Highly Sensitive People and Anxiety.
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Codependency in Creative Pursuits
Dr Mihaela Ivan Holtz, Psy.D., LMFT of Creative Minds Psychotherapy helps creative people in TV/Film, performing and fine arts, and writes about the emotional and creative pleasures - and challenges - of their inner life as artists.
Here is an excerpt from one of her related articles:
"In the realm of creative endeavors, where passion and imagination spring from your essence, codependency can stealthily infiltrate in your creative’s journey.
Though you may only associate codependency with “relationship problems,” it can shape your life in other ways. Codependency can interfere with your pursuit of authentic expression and your sense of agency.
Whether in the creative space of writing, painting, music, dance, theater, cinema, creative entrepreneurship or any other creative outlet, the dynamics of codependency can manifest in ways that hinder your growth, stifling creativity and self-discovery.
Before we explore how codependency can hinder your creativity, let’s be clear on what codependency is.
Codependency often describes the relationship dynamics in which partners/families are stuck in a cycle of addiction. It is not limited to that!
Codependency is when you neglect or sacrifice yourself in the service of someone or something.
In this unhealthy relationship dynamic, you’re not grounded in yourself – your needs, your values, your goals or dreams."
See more in her article (on her site) Unraveling Codependency in Creative Pursuits: Nurturing Your Authentic Expression and Self-Discovery.
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Thanks for reading. Any comments?