If you are a creative and have never hit a creative block, then you are in the minority. Only recently Dan Brown was talking about hanging upside down to cure his. You may be in one right now, or have been there before and lived under a black cloud for days, weeks and months and not known what to do. I hate it!
The good news is that I know how I get here, which means I know how to get out of here too and that is the best way of solving any problem, knowing how you got there in the first place. Here are my reasons for getting here;
- Not Enough Sleep
Sound simple enough, but creative types by their very nature like to burn the candle at both ends and often in the middle too. You can do that for a while, but you can’t sustain it. It’s surprising what a week of early nights can do to fix your mind. If you have any doubts about this, then remember that sleep depravation is used by interrogators to screw with people’s ability to think. - I Need A Holiday
I’m normally on summer vacation by this time of year, however this year we’ve booked a month later and I can feel it, hence the impetus to write this catharsis. Vacations allow us to recharge the batteries, so don’t leave it too long and end up running on empty. - I Need To Spend Some Time With Other People
I work a lot of my time on my own, but after a while of being on my own I need the company of other people to talk to, to listen to, to be inspired by. Without the input of other people I lose perpective and start hating all of my creative ideas, I’m even hating this article. - I Need To Stoke The Fire
The fuel of a creative person’s heart is the creativity of others. It’s time for me to read some good books, watch some great movies, look at some great art and of course listen to some great music. If I’m getting no input then there’s little chance of an overflow of creativity, I need to soak in creativity until I can’t help but express those influences in new outpourings.
If you are feeling like me, then I empathize. I can also tell you that it won’t last forever, but what I can say is that unless you do something about it then it will last a lot longer than it needs to. If you make a living from it, then you have a responsibilty to deal with it otherwise you won’t eat.