Do you feel like your CREATIVITY has died?

Do you feel like your mind is constantly drawing blanks?

Does it feel like it is a broken record, stuttering and scratching on REPEAT?

Does your brain sometimes feel exactly like ‘a doll on a music box?’

In November and December when I was at my darkest point, I could barely string sentences together.

I would reach inside my head, trying to find the word and it wouldn’t be there.

I would wake up with ‘NO WORD’ days.

These never-ending ‘NO WORD’ days, where I would be withdrawn, couldn’t talk and DID NOT WANT TO BE TOUCHED.

Those days haven’t disappeared. There are still ‘NO WORD’ days but they are less. They are ‘NO WORD’ hours instead. Which is progress.

When my anxiety is severe and my panic attacks constant, I start to stutter. When I try to speak about what is wrong, the words fail me and jam and jar in my mouth.

How can your brain be CREATIVE when there are some days when it DOESN’T WORK?

How can your brain be CREATIVE when there are days when everything is BLACK?

How can your brain be CREATIVE when it can barely STABILIZE your emotions?

I am an actor. Creativity is my JOB but my resources are severely LOW.

I’ve started this blog as a way of finding creativity and hopefully… HELPING others.

Putting my focus into making DELICIOUS recipes and CREATIVE porridges.

SO MUCH OF THE TIME, my brain is like an engine that WILL NOT START.

If I try reading ….. my brain takes me down a dark hole.

If I try watching a film….. my brain tells me I should give up.

If I try writing my brain….. well… see there we GO… It’s done it again! (Genuinely- I ran out of metaphors 😬)

You and I both know that EVERYONE feels like this in points of their lives.

Where you lose joy in things you loved doing.

I think the best way to regain creativity is to START SMALL.

Colouring

Get a small colouring book and try colouring a picture. Take your time. Try focussing in on the miniature detail. Attempt to enjoy picking different colours.

This does not work for everyone.

My brain tends to go ‘WELL THIS IS STUPID AND SO ARE YOU!’

But… it’s a mindful task. It requires you to focus on the present moment rather than all the STORM in your head.

Writing

Try writing about something you know. A subject familiar to you. Whether that be a favourite childhood memory of a food you ate, holiday you went on or day out you had. Or perhaps it’s a funny story you always tell friends. Or something that happened TODAY that interested you. This doesn’t have to be something you EVER show anybody. But writing about something you know and can tell easily, will get the juices flowing.

Writers block is just your brain telling you ‘You aren’t good enough’ or ‘You are SHIT at writing’. When your INNER CRITIC pops up, acknowledge it and move on. Allow yourself to free write. Writing begs of you to be mindful, focussing on the STORYTELLING, rather than your warped thoughts.

COOKING!

This is the FIRST STEP I took back to creativity.

When my depression got really bad, I was working TOO MUCH, keeping out the house, not speaking to people, skipping meals and then just eating cereal bars and sandwiches for energy. My routine was crap and my eating habits were AWFUL. I was eating to live rather than LIVING to eat.

When I got signed off work, I originally hid. Hid in my bed. Hid in my parent’s house. Hid from the world. Then … I started cooking.

Not crazy complicated stuff like Souffle and Croissants. I started slowly. Making my oatmeal a little more interesting. Making an colourful salad. Looking up a recipe for a new dinner. I would mindfully take my time. Making sure the food LOOKED beautiful and TASTED flavorsome.

I was feeding my mind DOUBLEFOLD.

Try searching for a new recipe (maybe one of mine ….ha..ha…ha… yes?), put more effort into making a different breakfast, go to a different restaurant, try a new cuisine.

Take a different route

Instead of getting the bus or tube, why not get off and walk a different way.

Maybe on your run, you try a different running route.

If you are walking around your local area, maybe go down a road you’ve never gone down before or a park you’ve never visited.

Shake up your brain’s routine and spark interest by doing this. An idea that seems so SMALL (and to be honest, stupid), but it’s not. It is a tiny baby step towards creativity.

Get outside

Go for a walk. Go for a run. Go to the park.

Try to go somewhere that is green. Somewhere you can see trees. Or flowers.

No WONDER painters and writers have created art about nature. Because it sparks something in your brain. Nature. Beauty.

Chuck away your cynics hat and go for a potter in the woods.

I really recommend trying to find natural running water. As soon as I’m by a river, or the sea or a lake, I feel the tiny inner stillness I have in me, become stiller.

Music

Find a new song you’ve NEVER heard before. Have a look at new playlists on spotify. Look at one of your favourite artists and find what is recommended from there.

I love listening to classical or film soundtrack music when I need a bit of stillness in my brain. I really love Max Richter and Jóhann Jóhannsen.

Go to a coffee shop

In films, you see writers and creatives being all CREATIVE in coffee shops.

They’re tip tapping or chitter chattering away whilst their CREATIVE JUICE CUP runneth over.

(ew- that metaphor worked better in my head)

There is a reason for that.

Not only because being around people and being in a coffee shop is a great way of combatting loneliness or isolation.

But also because the droning ambience of anonymous conversation in the background and the (sometimes) chill jazz music played in coffee shops, helps you focus on your task. It’s an external, non irritating soundtrack to your CREATIVE JAM.

I find it very difficult to concentrate unless in complete silence in my flat. Which isn’t always possible. When I’m in a coffee shop or a library, I find it much easier to focus as the sound is quieter.

‘People watching’ sparks off ideas.

Listen to their conversations.

Watch what they are doing.

Not in a creepy ‘I’m going to stalk you way’!

But, what stories can be created in your head, by what you see?

It is also feels like a CREATIVE DATE with yourself. Buy yourself a hot drink, put your ‘NO PRESSURE’ CREATIVE HAT ON and slowly get on down with being creative.

Take the PRESSURE off!

If I put too much pressure on myself to be creative…

If I beat myself up for not being able to be creative….

If I sit myself down and go ‘YOU WILL BE CREATIVE NOW!’…

My brain throws a tantrum, refuses to engage and just screams ‘SCREW YOU!’

Your creativity is like a dancing hippy at Glastonbury. It needs freedom to roam.

Think of it as ‘free range’. Give it the space to breathe, improvise and be messy.

I hope some of these tips help you start finding creativity again.

Comment below what tips worked for you OR if you have any tips of your own?

It’s all baby steps.

When being trying to be creative, be KIND and COMPASSIONATE to yourself.

And if it doesn’t happen today, that is okay. There’s always the next day, or the day after that, or the day after that, or the day after that, or the day after that….

Much love,

Joy xx