What To Do When You're Stuck
Apr 01, 2019
Every creative I know gets stuck occasionally.
None of us are immune to it.
The idea well runs dry.
The joy dissipates.
The colour dries up from what normally excites us.
What is usually easy becomes hard.
The instinct to create becomes an instinct to hide, withdraw, or procrastinate.
Creatives everywhere battle the same feelings, yet we have a remarkable ability to feel like we’re the only ones suffering from this.
There are lots of names for it, lots of diagnoses for it, and a tonne of books written about it. And if you‘re anything like me, you need help from time to time on how to get 'un - stuck’.
Creativity cannot be a deliberate or single act you engage in whenever you feel like it - it has to become a recurring rhythm you can’t escape.
It has to become breath.
Developing your creative identity has to become a decision that exists in your subconscious. Its got to be an involuntary reaction to your environment and the world around you.
Your creativity has to become instinctive and habitual; like breathing.
Looking around at our natural world, everything that has life exudes the same principle. It’s inescapable, yet barely noticed. Anything that lives, anything that gives life - is caught up in this rhythm, this pattern.
The issue with breathing - and with creativity - is this. It’s simple. Almost too simple. It’s inhaling and exhaling - expanding and contracting - in and out. Your heart, your breath, the seasons, the elements… So simple you expect there to be more to this.
But no. Look again… everything ALIVE has this interplay of inhale/exhale built into it. Except we don't even notice it. It’s so normal to us it barely registers as worth our attention. But without it, life stops.
Your creativity is more like breathing than you may give it credit for.
You need to inhale (breathe in creativity) and then exhale (use your creativity).
If you try to shortcut this and continue to exhale without the inhale - you’ll find yourself stuck. Completely out of breath.
We have to treat our creativity the same way as breathing, as a part of us. What makes this challenging is that we rarely stop to check the quality and depth of our breath … we just do it.
For example, consider this… as a writer - you’ve likely been speaking all day … creating words, phrases, endowing meaning and purpose to your vocabulary, all since you got up this morning. This is an inherently creative act - but are you leaning into it to maximise its creative power, or are you waiting to you sit at your desk before expecting the words to flow?
This is often our blockage when we are stuck. Not that we aren’t creating but we aren’t seeing!
Though we live with this creative breath at work in us and around us, we wouldn't recognise it by the way we approach our days. We often ignore, minimise, and trivialise the everyday creativity happening in and around us.
Your goal, as a person - especially as a creative person - should be to notice the incredible body of work you’ve already brought to bear on the earth TODAY.
To do this, to operate at your best, you need to choose to inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale. Repeat ad infinitum.
For optimal creative flow, each busy period of output needs to be followed up by a period of recharge and renewal. These days, creative work looks like sprint, rest, recharge, repeat, over short but sustained bursts.
Sow. Reap. Repeat.
We know this is true for farming, high level sportspeople, and our sleeping kids, yet we often try to live as if we’re immune to it. Where we should be inhaling, we choose to hold our breath. And then wonder why we don’t feel the creativity flowing through us as we should.
If you want to get unstuck, you must let your creativity breathe. If you don’t, it will instead asphyxiate.
The good thing is, this doesn't need to be complicated. Here some very practical (to the point of being overlooked) takeaways that can hopefully help you as they have helped me the last few weeks:
I Aim for smaller pockets of time to prioritise breath in your life. 5 minutes of bad writing is better than no writing at all.
II Change your environment. A different method, playlist or, activity can fundamentally alter your state.
III Develop your self - awareness. Sharpen your creative saw at a weekly, monthly, and annual level. Review what you’ve done, loved, and loathed. Sometimes looking at what’s BEEN can help crystallise what’s coming NEXT in you.
Now, there’s no ironclad guarantee, but give yourself to these steps, and I am confident you’ll be back on the road to creating some of your best work. Remember, creativity that isn’t allowed to breathe will eventually asphyxiate, and that is not where you’re designed to end up.
G
