How to overcome creative block: Methods of great writers. Several ways to get out of a creative crisis
Oh, this is the state of flow when you soar like a bird over the endless ocean of creativity! When everything planned works out, when something truly creative comes out of the pen, when a brilliant project is born. What to do if you fall out of this state? Is there a recipe that will help you survive a creative crisis and give impetus to new discoveries?
Professor Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, author of the best-selling book “Creativity,” explored the fates of ninety greatest people XX century. For several years, the professor and his team studied life scientific workers, artists and others creative personalities. Research was conducted to identify common features, habits, lifestyle creative people. The main goal was to identify ways to increase personal creativity.
So, all creative, and non-creative, people have the same brain structure. The ability and limit for processing information is practically the same. The only difference is what exactly we think about, how we know how to relax, and whether we can concentrate on the task.
You will overcome writer's block and become more creative if you follow these seven tips:
Research has shown that absent-mindedness is bad for creativity. Lack of concentration is usually a consequence of multitasking. Paying attention to several things at the same time, it is difficult to create something valuable:
1. Set a limit on your daily visits to the Internet and social networks. Frequently jumping from link to link dulls attention and impairs memory.
2. Develop healthy habits. Albert Einstein did not waste time choosing his clothes every day. He dressed in the same sweater and baggy trousers, thereby concentrating on more important things. You don't have to minimize your wardrobe this way, but getting rid of excess clothes you haven't worn in a while can be helpful. Arrange the remaining items into ready-made sets and hang them in the closet. This will help you save time and concentrate on what is important.
3. Meditate. This helps you focus and let go of unnecessary things. Start every day with five minutes of meditation, and the results will not be long in coming.
4. Be interested in what is happening in the world, communicate more with people. Focusing on your needs and ambitions interferes with the development and assimilation of new information.
Remember how a child admires simple things. An adult loses this quality over the years. Here are a few ways to awaken the inquisitive child within you:
1. Be surprised by what you read, hear, and see. Look New film. Read Shakespeare's sonnet in the original, and it doesn't matter if your English is far from perfect. Listen symphony concert, try an unusual dish. Don't try to evaluate all this from an expert's position. Just enjoy new experiences.
2. Surprise at least one person every day. Invite a friend or spouse to the theater rather than to a coffee shop. Buy clothes in a new style and go “outfitting” to a crowded place.
3. Write down insights every day.Keep a diary and record in it everything that seemed interesting or unusual. Re-read the notes after a week and reflect on them. You may notice a pattern and want to explore it in more detail.
4. If you are interested in something, do not ignore it.Interest usually doesn't last long. We are too busy to study our favorite song, flower or idea. If we do not explore the world, we will miss a lot, we will miss out and will not have time to try.
It doesn’t matter what you are doing: washing the floor, peeling potatoes or planting cucumbers in the country. It is important to enjoy any activity - to work while dancing in the shower. Routine tasks done with joy help you distract yourself and release creative energy.
In the book Creativity, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi quotes sculptor Nina Holton on creativity:
“I like the expression “the soul sings,” and I say that quite often. Cape and I have a house, such tall grass grows around it, and I look at it and say: “This is singing grass, it sings.” You see, I have such a need, I need joy. I can feel it. I think I'm glad that I'm alive, I'm glad that there's a man that I love, I'm glad that I have this wonderful Life, and when I work on something, my soul sometimes sings. I hope everyone has this feeling. I’m glad that I got such a singing soul.”
— Nina Holton
Think about what your soul is singing about? What helps you get into a state of flow and just enjoy what you have in your life?
It is important to understand what time of day is effective for work and what time is notI'm resting. Experiment, don't get hung up on generally accepted standards. Perhaps the most useful time for work it will not be morning, as you have thought all your life, but evening or afternoon.
Write down in your notebook the optimal hours for work and rest. Also note which days of the week you are most productive, and which days you feel like being lazy or daydreaming.
Tip 5: Take Time to Relax and Reflect
Many people simply cannot sit still: they wash the floors twice a day, rearrange things in the closet, polish a chandelier or windows until they shine. Do you recognize yourself? Such a “monkey in the head” has a bad effect on creativity. Try to carve out some time in your schedule to do nothing. Just sit in silence, look into the distance and let your thoughts flow as they please.
Reflect on your life, think about past achievements and upcoming challenges. The less effort you put in, the more interesting solutions will be born. Combine periods of reflection with physical activity, for example, with walking, swimming or running. Alternate stress with relaxation. If you have a sedentary, monotonous job, then choose extreme sports such as alpine skiing and mountaineering for relaxation.
Tip 6. Tidy up the space around you
This will make it easier for you to focus on creativity. Get rid of everything unnecessary: things that distract, stress, or make you feel depressed. Free space helps creative energy flow. Think about whether you are satisfied with the view from the window, the air, the floor of your house and workplace?
Do you want to start your work day early in the morning? Organize your workspace in a room whose windows face east. In the summer, at 5 am in your room it will already be light, and you won’t think about how to sleep for another hour... Choose one day a week when you empty your home or workplace of unnecessary things - this practice contributes to the influx of creative energy.
Over the course of several days, track how you feel from this or that activity. Set an alarm on your phone and let it remind you of this experiment every 15 minutes. After some time, it will become clear which activities bring pleasure and which ones are boring.
Once you've figured out what you like and what you don't, delegate some routine tasks to your loved ones, such as packing your suitcase or washing the dishes. Organize other activities so that they become interesting and useful. For example, combine a walk with the dog with listening to a podcast. And completely give up unnecessary tasks, like checking your email every hour. Do things that bring you pleasure and joy more often. A dissatisfied person cannot be creative.
Let's sum it up
Creative crisis should not be considered a uniquely negative phenomenon. Everything depends on our attitude. For some, a crisis is an opportunity to develop further and become better, but for others it is a path to degradation. Persistence, coping skills and dedication work wonders. Mendeleev worked on his table for years chemical elements, before he dreamed about her.. JK Rowling, author of the Harry Potter series of novels, encountered many obstacles on the way to her dream, and she gave up more than once. But in just five years she transformed from a humble secretary into a world-famous writer.
There are no coincidences. And everything you are working on now will definitely bear juicy fruits in the future! Believe in yourself, and then you can overcome any crisis.
The usual reason creative crisis- overwork. Enthusiastic people forget about rest, do not get enough sleep, and if problems in their personal lives are added to this, things can end in apathy and depression. How to get out of a creative crisis without losses.
Almost every person who takes their work seriously has experienced a creative crisis. Lack of new ideas, loss of inspiration, emptiness, a feeling of mental stupor when it is difficult to concentrate on work, the inability to adequately evaluate its results are the main symptoms of a creative crisis.
This condition can last from several days to several weeks and even months. This difficult test has its reasons.
What factors contribute to the onset of a creativity crisis?
One of the main causes of creative crisis is overwork. A person who is too carried away by the creative process forgets about rest, fearing that inspiration will leave him. However, the emotional uplift that accompanies the creative process is replaced by fatigue, apathy and depression. The body is tired and requires a break, because it has used up its energy reserves and needs time to replenish them.
People whose work involves creativity often lack sleep, which also contributes to overwork.
Another common cause of creative crisis is lack of harmony in personal life. A crisis in life entails a crisis in creativity. Creative people are usually deeply vulnerable, and to disturb them mental balance not that difficult. Discord in the team, quarrels in the family, financial difficulties, illness loved one etc. - such problems prevent them from concentrating and fully surrendering to the creative process.
A creative crisis comes from monotony and routine. Everyday life, absence vivid impressions and source of inspiration.
Some creative people fall into a creative stupor even if they are faced with too much large-scale work. On initial stage they may have so many incarnations of it different ideas and plans that, due to the confusion in their thoughts, it can be difficult for them to systematize them and decide where to start. That is, their crisis comes not because they have nothing to say, but because they immediately want to express too much.
It also happens that a lack of access to the necessary information leads to a creative crisis.
Creative people - writers and poets, artists and musicians - are often too demanding of themselves, and if the completed work does not live up to their expectations, they can destroy it. At the same time, they often become depressed and for a long time refuse creative work.
How to get out of a creative crisis
Translated from ancient Greek, the word “crisis” means a transitional state, a turning point, a revolution, etc. Thus, those who are overcome by a creative crisis must realize that this is a temporary phenomenon. You just need to wait it out, because a creative crisis is not the end, but just a pause that you need to take advantage of to give your body a break.
We can say that a creative crisis is useful for a person: it is given in order to put thoughts in order and solve long-standing problems for which there was not enough time before.
1. In a state of emptiness, characteristic of a creative crisis, you should not force yourself to move work “from dead center“- both time and effort will be wasted, which will only increase despair and depression.
Not every job can be put off until inspiration strikes. Deceiving oneself by persuading oneself to work for at least half an hour often helps to overcome internal resistance and stubborn reluctance to get down to business. Practice shows that this half hour stretches over several hours until all or most of the work is done. The well-known rule “Appetite comes with eating” also justifies itself here.
There is another interesting opinion. The artist Van Gogh advised: “If inner voice tells you that you can’t draw anymore, keep drawing until he stops talking.” He is echoed by another classic who has experienced a creative crisis more than once - N.V. Gogol. He said: “If you can’t write today, then write - there’s something I can’t write today.” You just have to start and necessary thoughts they will come on their own.
2. During a creative crisis, a forced break from work can be used to switch to other things that had to be put off due to busyness: repairs, doctor’s visits, organizing closets, etc. They will distract from depressive thoughts that “everything is disappeared" and inspiration will never return (see ""). Moreover, when new ideas appear, there will be no time left for household chores.
3. Creative people work mainly while sitting. And, as you know, to achieve the best results, mental work should be alternated with physical work. Physical activity, especially fresh air, improve blood circulation and nutrition of the brain, so you shouldn’t sit in one place for hours and torment yourself with finding the best solutions.
If signs of creative block appear, it’s worth taking a break from work for a while and warming up - running, going to the Gym or swimming pool, work in the garden or just take a walk in the park. It is also useful to simply stand under the shower or lie in the bath - the water “washes away” all the negativity, and the person feels renewed.
Yoga and meditation can help relieve tension and allow you to relax.
5. Many people who are “caught up” with a creative crisis are “treated” with books, music, and films. For some, going to a bookstore helps, while for others, looking at old photographs helps. Some people need to be alone, while others need to meet with friends who can give them a fresh idea or make them look at a problem with different eyes.
The time of creative crisis should be used to visit theaters, concerts, museums, exhibitions, because the more diverse the interests and the higher cultural level man, the more significant his ideas. Moreover, someone’s picture or melody may well serve as an impetus for new creative ideas(cm. " ").
However, psychologists do not advise looking for inspiration in the works of colleagues: it is better for a writer to look through albums with reproductions, and for an artist to read a book. Otherwise, a person who is in a creative stupor will inevitably compare himself with a colleague and draw conclusions that are not in his favor.
7. Psychologists believe that the most effective method way out of creative stagnation - urgently change environment, changing the “picture” before my eyes for a while. Everyday monotony and routine lead to a gradual fading of the feeling of joy and happiness, when everything comes easily and simply.
It is impossible to give unambiguous advice - one for everyone - on how to get out of a creative stupor. Every creative person has had to experience a similar state sooner or later - and everyone has their own recipe. After all, the main thing is to rest, relax and temporarily switch to another activity.
And everyone has their own ways of doing this. For one person it is enough to sleep and relax with his family, while for another he needs to be alone, having gone far and long. Some people are “cured” by going to the mountains, while others are treated by vintage shopping. The only thing you shouldn’t do is fuel your psyche with alcohol and drugs - the emotional outburst after using them will eventually turn into deep depression.
In general, creative crisis, or creative stagnation as it is also called, is a very common problem that many people face in life.
Stupor in the head, lack of inspiration, no flow of new thoughts and ideas, an adequate assessment of the results of one’s own work has been lost, a feeling of complete emptiness - these are all clear signs of a creative crisis in a person.
If suddenly a person’s inspiration has disappeared, and there are no thoughts in his head, then you need not to get upset and collect your thoughts, because you need to fight this.
- How to overcome creative crisis
The very problem of overcoming creative blockade lies in its specific individuality. It’s like in the case of fighting laziness, first you need to understand the reason for its occurrence. One must ask why this stagnation in creativity occurred? And when the reasons why the crisis arose are analyzed in the head, then it will be much easier for a person to cope with it.
The main cause of a creative crisis can easily be called overwork. IN in this case Reducing the speed of work or complete rest will help you get out of this stupor. After all, it is impossible to work completely without rest, or in the end this will lead to the fact that working capacity completely disappears, fatigue appears and apathy or severe depression sets in. When a person does not forget about his own proper rest and constantly alternates work with it, then again and again he returns to it full of vigor, with a charge new energy and great enthusiasm. You can also go to the cinema to watch some inspiring film, visit a photo exhibition or go to art gallery, relax on the beach or go fishing. One person, in order to get out of a creative crisis that arose due to fatigue, just needs to sleep for a few days and spend time with family and friends; for another person, only a full-fledged long vacation will help. Everything directly depends on how high the degree of fatigue is.
A photographer from Sweden named Kelly Gustafson says that when he gets low and loses his inspiration, he goes on vacation for two weeks. And during it he just watches people and listens to music. For him this is the most The best way distract yourself, leave the confines of your work and overcome stagnation in creativity.
Very common cause The occurrence of creative block is caused by personal problems: a conflict at work, a quarrel at home or with a loved one, the illness of a relative, and so on. Creative person any trouble can completely unsettle him, because he is a very vulnerable person. To overcome creative stagnation, you need to understand that life is striped like a zebra. And once the troubles arise, they will end anyway and all the bad things will quickly be forgotten. But the best solution here we will still do everything possible to exclude the influence of personal reasons on the creative process. It is necessary to take measures so that melancholy ceases to be the cause of a creative crisis, so if there is a quarrel with someone, there is no need to gnaw at yourself from the inside, you just need to make peace and that’s it. If a firm decision has arisen in your head to part with your loved one, then you need to quickly burn all bridges and start a new life.
It happens that creative stagnation occurs due to a lack of information. There is only one way out - to find her. Everyone has their own ways of searching, remembering and processing the information they find.
An artist and designer from Michigan named Chuck Anderson often looks to bookstores for inspiration. A stack of magazines, books and a cup of coffee. He also sometimes takes his computer there, but more often he just flips through the pages and looks at other people’s ideas, drawing a lot from there for himself. Various publications about music, sports, art, tattoos, culture and design are what Chuck Anderson likes to read most. He is oversaturated with the amount of information received and this almost always brings him out of a creative crisis.
Here's a freelance illustrator from England, whose name is Jasper Goodell. In moments of lack of inspiration, he prefers to visit the university library and completely buries himself there, in old editions of photo magazines and geographical design, choosing from there only those things that inspired his imagination. Then he goes home, where he prints them out and pastes them into a specially created scrapbook of various literature. And after all this, a lot of new ideas arise in his head.
The next reason why creative stagnation occurs is the monotony of both life and one’s own work. In this case, new impressions are urgently needed. It is necessary to expand your leisure time, completely change the rhythm of life and at the same time introduce something new into your creativity. You can, for example, hire some unusual project or change your specific workflow. You can introduce various innovations into your life in different ways: make new friends, design the interior of your apartment, and so on. We must remember that with creative stagnation there is a fear of everything new.
If suddenly the cause of a creative crisis was that a person is dissatisfied with his own work, then you need to re-evaluate your work. Because it happens that a person criticizes his work groundlessly. In this case, it is very difficult for those people who endlessly delve into themselves to experience this crisis. Of the great people, Kafka, Chekhov and Dostoevsky were prone to this. But if in fact it turns out that a certain person’s work is not good enough, then you need to work on the mistakes and figure out how to make it better. Here you should pay attention to the creativity of your colleagues, and perhaps even competitors in the desired field of knowledge and try to learn something from them.
When Minneapolis artist and designer Chad Hagen experiences a creative crisis, he visits places that make him want to become even better. He pays attention to creativity different people and this turns on his existing one creative potential. For him, the best cure for this kind of crisis is the extraordinary things that other people have done. Chad Hagen visits museums, exhibitions and galleries that reawaken his desire to return to his work and create something special.
A creative crisis can also arise due to working on a large-scale project, where at some stage of work on it a person will become overwhelmed with emotions. This may be due to huge plans, large quantity various options embodiment, interweaving of several ideas that have no end. In this case, a person is frightened by the scale of the project and does not understand how and where to start, because the thoughts are all mixed up in his head, and also the deadlines put pressure on him and do not allow him to relax for a second, and this is where creative stupor arises. The solution to this problem can only be proper planning of your own time and correct positioning goals. You need to disassemble your project into its component parts and determine clear deadlines and time for their implementation, make a list of tasks that need to be solved in this project. And then you can move towards the implementation of your own object, and when the first successes are achieved, they will inspire further work.
And a few more tips on how to overcome creative stagnation:
Everyone knows well that in order to achieve or receive positive result In absolutely any activity it is necessary to alternate between physical and mental labor. If you suddenly feel like a creative crisis is coming, you need to physically strain your head hard work- this is the best medicine for her at such a moment. You can visit the gym, dig up a garden for relatives or friends, in general, in a word, you need to work up a sweat literally words. After all creative people especially useful physical exercise, because most They spend their lives in a sedentary state.
For example, a creative from California, whose name is Justin Christmeier, gets out of creative stagnation with the help of a fairly long run. He believes that new ideas are in fat, and, therefore, if you burn a small part of your fat, you can release these ideas and find a use for them. Justin takes him for a run mobile phone and writes down new, suddenly arising ideas into it.
But a Danish photographer named Keith Holtermand listens to music when he experiences creative block. He says that an inexhaustible source of inspiration is music. She is an assistant for him in raising his spirits. He created his works while listening to such amazing musicians as Sigur Rós - this is his favorite, Jonsi and Alex, Air, Dead Can Dance and others.
A writer and correspondent for a weekly magazine called “Russian Reporter,” whose name is Marina Akhmedova, can write something only after a full eight hours of sleep and not a minute less, otherwise a stupor occurs in her head.
A creative director at Google named Ji Lee, in turn, when a creative crisis occurs, does the following:
He spends a long time in the shower and stands directly under the running water, so he thinks completely differently. Ji believes that water washes away all old thoughts and creates a feeling of self-renewal.
Then he cleans and puts things in order, because he cannot think fully if everything around him is a complete mess.
If suddenly the two above options do not work, then he goes for a ride on a motorcycle, completely forgetting about his project.
In the end, some of this helps him.
Dat Sun, an artist and illustrator from California, believes that creative stagnation is a very unpleasant feeling, which is why he tries to prevent it from occurring. There are many ways for him to make his brain work. For example, he watches a movie or reads books. It also helps Dat San to meet friends who have other interests.
How to do your job without getting out of a creative crisis:
If suddenly there is a feeling of internal resistance and you don’t want to work at all, then you need to force yourself to write at least one page and look at the result. After all, appetite very often comes during eating.
When moments of creative block arise, it is very necessary to have blanks available. For example, for a journalist this may be an unedited or in progress article or some other material that remains from already published articles. They may not help you get out of a creative block, but when there is no inspiration, they will definitely help you not to fall face down in front of your customers or your management.
At that moment when complete creative impotence sets in, you must, under no circumstances, sit back and not torment yourself with thoughts about when it will all end. It is necessary to do the work for which there is often not enough time, namely: put all the papers on shelves, purchase the necessary ones stationery items, read specialized literature, and so on. In a word, be fully prepared for the moment when inspiration returns.
A graphic designer from San Francisco named Christopher Simons has a problem that he often knows how to solve, but it turns out to be too complicated and he gives up. A complete switch to another type of work helps him overcome this uncertainty. This work should be simple and unrelated to the previous one. Christopher includes such work as cleaning the garage, painting office switches, and things like that. After that, he returns to his problem again and looks at it with completely different eyes, because now it seems to him like a mere trifle.
For every person, creative stagnation is a whole test; for some it is severe, and for others it is so-so. But one thing we must remember is that when it appears in life, it is best to turn to the above methods in order to return your entire work process to normal. These tips will also help not only cope with the creative crisis itself, but also help prevent its occurrence in advance.
Creative crisis(V English language term adopted Writer's block, writer's block) is a condition in which an author loses the ability to create new works or experiences a creative decline. The severity of the condition varies depending on the difficulty in inventing original ideas to many years of inability to do work. Throughout history, writer's block has been documented many times.
Such professional artists as Francis Scott Fitzgerald, Joseph Mitchell, cartoonist Charles Monroe Schultz, and others were subject to creative crisis. British singer Adele, etc. Research on this topic was carried out in the late 1970s and 1980s. Researchers have focused primarily on writers' block. The condition was first described in 1947 by psychoanalyst Edmund Bergler.
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Zwook answer #4: Creative block
HOW TO GET OUT OF A CREATIVE CRISIS IN 4 STEPS
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Causes
Creative crisis can have several possible reasons. Sometimes it's creative problems inside the author himself. The writer may lack inspiration or be distracted by other events. Fictional example can be found in George Orwell's novel Long live ficus!", in which main character Gordon Comstock tries in vain to finish an epic poem describing one day in London (translated by V. Domiteyeva): “The scope is beyond our capabilities, yes, beyond our strength. Actually, the poem did not move; in two years only a bunch of fragments, scattered and unfinished, were stuck together.”
Also, a crisis may arise due to external unfavorable circumstances in the life or career of a writer: physical illness, depression, relationship breakdown, financial pressure, feeling of failure. The very need to produce a product can contribute to a crisis, especially if the author is forced to work in a way that is unusual for him (that is, under a deadline or in an inappropriate style or genre). Writer's block can also stem from a fear of not measuring up. great success. Writer Elizabeth Gilbert, reflecting on her prospects after releasing a bestseller, suggested that we break away from such pressure by calling creative writers “having” genius rather than “being” geniuses.
It has been suggested that writer's block is more than just a mental phenomenon. Under stress, the human brain “switches control from the cerebral cortex to the limbic system.” The limbic system is associated with instinctive processes, such as the fight-or-flight response, and with behavior based on “deeply ingrained learning.” Limited input from cortex cerebral hemispheres hinders creative processes, which are replaced by behaviors associated with the limbic system. A person is often unaware of these changes and believes that he is creatively “blocked.” In his 2004 book " The Midnight Disease: The Drive to Write, Writer's Block, and the Creative Brain" (ISBN 978-0-618-23065-5) writer and neuroscientist Alice Flaherty argued that literary creativity is a function of certain areas of the brain, and that the block can occur due to disruption of brain activity in them.
In Lawrence Oliver's article “How to overcome writer's block. Helping Students states that “students receive little or no advice on how to generate ideas and analyze their thoughts, and usually go through the writing process without corrective guidance.” feedback and without the guiding participation of the teacher, who refrains from comments and criticism until evaluation final result." He says students "learn to write by writing" and often feel insecure and/or paralyzed by rules.
Phyllis Koestenbaum, in the article “The Secret Climate the Year I Stopped Writing,” wrote about her fear of writing, claiming that it was directly caused by the reaction of her teacher. She writes: “I needed to write in order to feel, but without feeling I could not write.” In contrast to Kestenbaum's experience, writing professor Nancy Sommers believes that just as assignments don't end when students stop writing, neither should teacher comments. She calls for a mutual "partnership" so that writers' responses to students' drafts become a conversation.
James Adams in his book Conceptual Blockbusting” notes that among the various reasons for the block are fear of risk, “chaos” at the stage of thinking about the text, a conflict of judgment with generating ideas, an inability to cultivate ideas, or a lack of motivation.
Overcoming the crisis
" examines various strategies for overcoming writer's block, paying particular attention to the work of Rose, Oliver and Clarke. James Adams, like Rico, discusses the involvement of the right hemisphere in the writing process. Book author " Write ON!» (« Keep writing!") Bill Downey, although he intends to base his approach on practical cases, his concentration on right-hemisphere techniques suggests a cognitive theoretical approach similar to Rico's, with more practical advice for writers.
Blank Slate Syndrome
Syndrome clean slate similar to writer's block, but the term is not psychological. This syndrome can happen to a writer at any time, regardless of career success. It can be frustrating for authors and often results in a long period of time where they are unable to start anything new. You can practice the following strategies to overcome this syndrome: take a break from work for a while, read books, or force yourself to write something without even seeing the point. To avoid blank slate syndrome, it's best to have a clear idea of when to sit down to write and not put it off until later, because stress only worsens this syndrome.
I think every author (beginning or already quite famous) at least once in his life has encountered such an unpleasant phenomenon as creative crisis. Dealing with this can sometimes be very difficult. I want to try to figure out what it really is and draw the necessary conclusions.
So what is writer's block? The answer is simple - a state in which the author, composer, artist, poet simply cannot take up and do what he, in fact, always does. In order to somehow cope with this condition, you first need to know why it occurs. There may be several reasons for this.
The concept of "Creative crisis."
The roads leading to art are full of thorns, but they also yield beautiful flowers.. George Sand.
The concept of "Creative crisis" consists of two words.
Creativity is an activity that generates new values, ideas, and the person himself as a creator.
Crisis (from the Greek decision, turning point) - a revolution, a time of transition, a turning point, a state in which existing facilities achieving goals becomes inadequate, resulting in unpredictable situations and problems.
Let's consider such a thing as an existential crisis, simply psychological. This is a state of anxiety, a feeling of deep psychological discomfort when questioning the meaning of existence. Most common in cultures where basic needs for survival have already been met.
Result: a state of creative crisis, which means a certain inability to create, to express your thoughts through the type of creativity that you have chosen.
Some causes of creative crisis.
Any human creation, be it literature, music or painting, is always a self-portrait. Butler
The first and one of the most common: Having finished some of his work (usually midi or maxi), the author, who has invested soul, energy, talent and time into his creation, is literally “emptied” for some time. After this, he suddenly cannot write anything - his hands simply do not reach him, they give up after the first viewing of the “draft” new chapter.
Second: any failures in everyday life (quarrels with parents, friends, not very good grades at school, comments from teachers, etc.). In this case, most often, unlike the previous one, there is not only no inspiration, but also no desire to do anything.
Third: fatigue. This often happens after important exams, tests, interviews, which you not only failed, but on the contrary, most likely received the assessment of your abilities that you yourself gave, or even higher. Although, there may be another reason for fatigue. In this case, you most likely do not have the strength to do anything.
Fourth: banal laziness. There is nothing to explain here.
Fifth: excessive motivation. Because of this, there is strong excitement, anxiety, and possible fear of failure.
Sixth: stress. Excessive psychological stress affects not only creativity, but also health. This could be caused by anything (even a negative rating or comment).
Because of this factor, creative crisis usually lasts the longest.
Several ways to get out of a creative crisis.
To have grounds for creativity, you need your life itself to be meaningful. Ibsen.
Good vacation- this method, I think, is more suitable for the first, third and sixth reasons. And in general, a good, useful (which is probably the most important) rest has never harmed anyone.
Switching tasks- if you can’t do what you love, why not switch to something else? If you write music, for drawing, for example, or for playing some kind of sport? After this, there is big chance for a surge of inspiration and creative forces.
Brainstorm- if you have good endurance and willpower, and you don’t have much time to fight a creative crisis (you never know, you’re writing a piece for a competition or at least school essay), then I think this option should suit you. The essence of the method is this: you start thinking about the idea itself (what it is, what’s wrong with it, maybe there’s something in it that’s significantly bothering you right now). Perhaps this will give you some ideas and speed up your thinking process. The only thing is that you need to firmly decide and commit to it. Otherwise, nothing may work out.
New images and impressions- creative crisis really doesn’t like vivid impressions. This leads to some new ideas that you didn’t even know were possible. Of course, you can’t always afford a trip abroad or to another city, but you can take a different route from school, update your wardrobe, and try something new for you.
Rework and rework- searching for problems and snags in a work is a fairly successful way to get rid of a creative crisis. You look for errors and shortcomings in the texts and end up discovering a lot of new things (for example, an idea that you never really “bothered” about before). Of course, the improvement is much less effective way than changing images and impressions, but this is often very relevant and justified.
How to do your work in case of creative crisis?
If you feel a loss of strength, inspiration, or similar symptoms of a creative crisis, try to do at least something. After all, it is known that appetite often comes while eating.
But, of course, there is no need to torture yourself by trying to do something for a very long time (this can simply lead to another reason for creative crisis). Then, try to do something that you usually just don’t get around to doing (learn the same geometry, for example).
Bottom line.
Art lies in finding the extraordinary in the ordinary and the ordinary in the extraordinary.. Diderot.
After we have understood this topic a little, we need to draw a conclusion.
Conclusion. Creative crisis is something like a disease. And almost any disease can be cured. You just need to understand in time what is happening to you, the cause of this condition and choose the right “medicine”.
Good luck in your creative endeavors!
