What is the flint and steel for creativity? How do you re-ignite it? I’m not talking about writer’s block. I’m talking about a dried up well, a sputtering font.
This year I’ve lost the drive to create anything at all. It isn’t that I can’t. I just don’t want to. I see no point.
I’m burned out and used up in every area of my life. There isn’t much of me to give any more. There is just a little bit left. I feel faded.
I have no idea what batteries I once ran on, but they need to be replaced. Or the power system needs to be upgraded.
I know the feeling. Although ironically the crap I’ve been through recently has probably made me create more, rather than less. Guess there’s some truth to that “tortured artist” shtick.
Perhaps this is the ebb and flow, and you are needing to “restock” the well, as Julia Cameron puts it? (you’ve read the Artist’s Way, yes?)
Maybe it’s not the fact that you aren’t creating that bothers you, but what you think that might mean?
(sending you hugs. lots of them.)
The way to do stuff is to do stuff. Stop thinking about it and just get something out. If it’s something that you don’t like, then stop and do something else. If it’s something that you like, then you won’t stop. When all else fails, go for a walk, get some coffee, and get back to it.
I’ll give you some advice that you gave me a while ago when I was feeling a lack of creativity: try new things. You never know what little thing may re-kindle your passion in something. Sometimes all it takes is one sentence or an odd fact.
I read a review of a book called “The War of Art” by Steven Pressfield. In it, he talks about overcoming creative resistance. Maybe you should check it out — I’ve been thinking about checking it out myself.
I think there are several factors at play. One is that I’m depressed on a base level, physical way. My energy is just gone. The lack of creativity is non-specific and broad. Ideas have stopped coming. I don’t feel blocked. I feel apathetic. I don’t feel anything inside me trying to come out. So it isn’t a matter of just doing something. I sit down and sketch or write a little, but I don’t feel anything about it. I don’t care. The mechanisms all still work, but I’ve lost interest in pulling the levers.
And I have no real goal for my life. Why would I write? Why would I make art? What end would that further?
On the other hand, and more along the lines of what Jeff is saying, I’ve been wondering if I’m just done with creating things like I used to. What if 30+ years of writing and art is enough? What if I just went and did something totally different?
Right now, the only thing that has occupied my time and energy with any kind of fire is redecorating and modding my house into a pseudo-steampunk living space. I’ve spent days and hundreds of dollars just on the painting. But I can only afford to do so much at a time. When I’m not working on the house, I’m listless and sad.
Also, cooking. Creating recipes and preparing dishes for people makes me happy.
I always get my best ideas when I’m out walking, with no pen or paper anywhere to be found. You may just need some green growing things and a few negative ions to get you going again. Then again, who’s to say that nesting is not a valid creative pursuit? Considering that you spend a good amount of time in your home, why not make it the way you want? And just because your body needs nutrition, is there any reason not to make that nutrition creative, interesting, fun, artful? Food and shelter are basic things of life, but why can’t they be an expression of your creativity? Do what you feel moved to do; forcing anything just makes it turn out badly. *hugs*
Ups and Downs are part of life’s journey. I have felt at times that breathing is a capital offense as sucking 02 from the air may deprive other living things of it. I then realize that I had no choice in been placed on this planet and it may not be my choice either to get out of it. I just have to try to make the best out of my journey.
Our major mistake in life is our failure to realize how important an individual can be. Just imagine the world without Benjamin Franklin, Albert Einstein, Adolf Hitler, or Mao Tse Tung, just to name a few. Anyone can make a big difference by using his/her given or acquired skills to benefit others. Perhaps that is the purpose of life. But, we grow to be egocentric and pretty soon our individual bottles are empty or too full to benefit ourselves or others.
We may want to look around us rather than inside us when boredom, frustration, or despair strikes. There may be children or even adults who need to be taught how to read and write while we are thinking of coming up with the latest genre masterpiece or lacking of a simple toy to play with while we get bored of the latest gadget.
The United States is becoming a banana republic, thanks to corrupt and career politicians who sell their soul to gain power or to retain their jobs. There is a need to voice our opinion, to join groups that will make a difference, and to support candidates that will defend the principles we belive in. We have to try to be part of the solution rather than bystanders of the problem.