How do you keep in touch with your creativity in times like these? Many of us already live with anxiety on a daily basis and there may be all sorts of causes for that, creating a background hum of unease. Add to that the sense of global anxiety we now live with, which has been ramped up to an extraordinary level - the pandemic, climate change and now the crisis in war-torn Ukraine - and it becomes even harder to maintain calm, confidence and positivity. We feel powerless. We feel fear, for ourselves, our loved ones, our countries, our planet.
Anxiety and creativity are not good bedfellows. You may feel inhibited or utterly drained of inspiration and excitement.
What can you do when your inner voice is saying ‘What’s the point?’
The point, very simply, is this: humans are born to be creative. Creativity is our shout against the darkness. It’s our way of reaching out. It’s our way of creating fellowship and sympathy. It’s our way of creating joy and recognition. It’s our way of defeating time. On an individual and collective level, creativity is what we’re all about.
Fine words, you may say, but how does that help me when I’m wide-eyed in the dark, terrified of the future?
Here’s how:
See creativity as your anchor, distracting you from the ‘out there’, grounding you in yourself.
Creativity is a celebration as well as a distraction. You can choose to focus on what gives you joy and reassurance, what liberates your imagination in a positive way.
Creativity is an assertion. it is a great ‘I am!’ shouted out - and if enough of us do it, it will lift us all.
Creativity is a retreat. Take your gaze off Twitter and the rolling news. Back away from doomscrolling. Sit in a peaceful place, breathe slow, remember.
How can I write when I’m too worried to write?
Keep your aspirations and intentions modest. Don’t strive too much and don’t beat yourself up if nothing much emerges.
You can use a journal as a release. You can dump your anxieties on the page and the act of offloading will help you. You can also record the things you love and value, rediscovering your perception of them. The birds still sing, after all.
You can befriend yourself in your journal. It is your shoulder to cry on, your reassurance. And even if no-one ever sees it (you may not want them to), you have given voice to the you that is truly you, to the experience that is uniquely yours.
If you feel the slightest nudge to invent, seize it. A tiny drawing, a line or two of verse, a flash fiction, a character sketch …
Explore other forms of creativity. I have learned how to make and bind my own notebooks. I have rediscovered crocheting, having not done it since I was a girl. These activities soothe me and because I am not invested in trying to win a publishing deal etcetera, I am calm. The joy lies in the process and the product for its own sake.
Dear friends, reach out. Keep sharing, donating and creating. It matters. In the end, creativity saves us. it rises, battered by circumstance - but it rises still. And it always will.
