Creativity During Chaos

Expressing ourselves in ways that bring joy into our lives and the lives of others is one of the most important parts of the human experience. Whether for business or for pleasure. Because I truly believe that creativity comes into play during both pursuits.

But what happens when the voices and images and constant noise from the outside world start to overpower our creative spirits?

When our desire to produce things and make stuff and capture moments becomes dulled by the overwhelming desire to numb out with a quick scroll of the feed that turns into hours in front of the screen?

That’s when our creative pursuits become more important than ever.

When we need to feel joy or relief, it makes the most sense to just go and do the things that traditionally provide us with joy and relief.

But here comes the kicker.

Because in moments like these, our creative pursuits can also become more difficult than ever.

The overwhelm. The spinny brain. The existential dread. The sneaking suspicion that we’re all currently living through the flashback scenes.

(Too dark? Hopefully, hindsight will eventually prove than it was. Fingers crossed.)

None of it necessarily fosters an environment for creative expression. And I will be the first to admit that I have really been struggling with that lately. Which can also be a bit problematic when your livelihood depends on an element of creative expression to get most jobs done.

And that makes it nothing less than critical for me to find ways to keep my mind bright and positive and colorful so that the creative juices stay in flow no matter how much the outside world tries to dam them in.

Perhaps you’ve found yourself in the same boat. In which case I thought I’d quickly share a few of the ways I’ve been actively trying to make sure I’m in a proper creative headspace more often than not.

(This is by no means a top five list or a bunch of things you MUST DO to succeed in creativity or anything. They’re just some things I’ve done or focused on over the past few months with varying degrees of success and if they resonate or spark an idea in you then great!)

Here goes…

Re-evaluated my relationship with social media.

This has meant sometimes deleting the apps from my phone when the doomscrolling gets out of control, taking social breaks altogether if just for a week or two, posting much less and therefore checking back in for the validating dopamine hit much less, setting the timer on Instagram so I at least know when 15 minutes has passed and I can decide where to go from there, and really paying attention to my intention when I’m online and being sure to tap out when it’s no longer being met.

Transformed my backyard office into a photo studio.

One of my excuses for not taking as many portraits as I want to is that I didn’t have space. So I looked around the office I built right before the pandemic (literally for like two hours straight I just stared off and redesigned it in my head) and realized that if I moved things around, I could totally have a portrait studio where I can explore photography more and play and try new things and experiment. Which is what I’ve been doing. I’ll put some pictures below.

Get outside and move around as much as possible.

Most of my days start with a good walk around the neighborhood with my dog where I try to get some Vitamin D and UV sunlight in my eyes and some blood flowing in my body. Sometimes that’s enough if I chase it with coffee. But most of the time it isn’t. In which case, later in the afternoon I go for a run, or a mountain bike ride, or lately a hike. No matter what though, it clears my head and helps me think the bright, positive, and colorful thoughts I need to get into the right headspace.

Always create before I consume.

Just kidding. I tend to consume way more than I create. But that doesn’t stop me from waking up each morning with every single intention to create before I consume. And one of these mornings, I know that I will. But for now, that mantra remains in my head all day long when I find myself teetering on the rabbit hole of media consumption. Asking myself if that time would be better spent and more rewarding if I made something instead is usually the push I need to refocus on the task at hand.

Learned to accept that life has seasons and to just go with it.

This is something I always remind my son when he struggles to find inspiration to play music (which is his current college major and future career path). Life happens in seasons and sometimes that spark we need just isn’t there right now and that’s OK. It’s temporary. It’s always temporary. Which means it will always return and usually quite quickly. Our creative pursuits are often all-consuming and sometimes just need to take breaks, too. So let them. Find another outlet and occupy your mind and body with something else for a while. Whatever your thing is - you’ll miss and return to it in due time. It never fails.

Look, none of this is groundbreaking or exhaustive or anything you haven’t heard plenty of times before elsewhere. But it all bears repeating. Because each one of these activities (and there are many more like them) is an ongoing practice that requires focus, patience, and realignment along the way.

Just writing this article today has been the act of creative expression I needed to bring some joy into my life and (fingers crossed) yours. It’s been rainy and gloomy all day. I got soaked walking the dog this morning. It’s too wet outside to go take pictures or make videos. All of which would have normally been perfect conditions for jumping into the social media rabbit hole all day.

Instead I wrote this.

And now my creative spirit is refueled. I feel happier. And if you’ve made it this far, my hope is that you feel a little happier, too. Hey, look. It stopped raining. The sun is back out. Not sure for how long or anything. But as long as it’s here, I think I’ll grab my camera and go take some pictures while the iron is still hot.

Perhaps you will, too.