The Creative Way: How to focus your mindset and find breakthrough in your creativity
CREATIVITY AND YOUR MENTAL HEALTH.
Fine. If he doesn’t want to answer me then I won’t answer him either.
This was my thought on the way to church Easter Sunday. I had said something that my husband didn’t acknowledge and I immediately took offense. It felt like he’d slapped me in the face.
Why didn’t he answer me, doesn’t he care? He’s so easily distracted. How rude!
I knew what to do. I purposely stayed silent the next time he said something, and I did that quite a few times that day.
That’ll show him, I thought, as I continued to seethe.
Looking back, I realize how silly that was. Why did I get so angry over something so trivial? Sure, no one likes to feel “ignored,” but we all do it, and my husband is such a generous, caring, and supportive companion, that I knew his little slip should not have affected me so deeply. I shouldn’t have gotten so angry.
Then I remembered something I had read about the creative recovery process: it often comes with a roller coaster of emotions, including anger. The process can dredge up a lot of old baggage and suppressed emotions because we are dealing with the childhood artist within, who many times was painfully rejected.
I have committed to writing a novel that was on my heart 10 years ago, and was the impetus for some big, exciting dreams. Unfortunately, I stuffed that dream quite a while ago, and have suppressed my desires ever since.
Now that I’m opening myself up to that dream again, it feels hectic and the exhausting emotions wear on me at times because they seem to change so often.
When I stepped back and thought about it, I knew that the anger I had toward my husband was a symptom of something deeper. In reality, there was a root cause that had nothing to do with my husband.
I was angry because I had given up on my dream too easily, and with that any progress I could have made.
I was angry because the creative process seemed so easy for some people, and felt so hard for me. And I was a little angry that I still struggled with procrastination and perfectionism that made me run from that blank page too often.
If you have been taking this journey with me, perhaps you know what I mean. Perhaps you’re feeling a bit emotional, and a little angry at times.
I can tell you that this is normal. It’s ok.
Anger is not necessarily a bad thing if it motivates us to do something good...and if we don’t take it out on others, of course ;-).
Personally, this journey feels like I’m waking up from a deep sleep.
For years I nurtured an apathetic mindset toward my creative dream, doing everything else that “made sense” in order to justify why I had to give up on my dream in the first place.
Now that I’m waking up to that commitment again, my emotions have also been awakened.
I’m feeling deeper than I have in a while. And unfortunately, sometimes those emotions feel pretty overwhelming.
This is where mindset comes in.
I remember a mantra I used often when I was dealing with anxiety that really helped.
My thoughts don’t define me.
Friend, YOUR thoughts don’t define you.
“Once your mindset changes, everything on the outside will change along with it.” Steve Maraboli
Emotions are fickle and can change by the hour it seems, and just because we feel something doesn’t mean it’s necessarily true. I mean, I usually feel pretty good about eating that Mountain High Mudd Pie from Red Robin, but not so much an hour later… :-)
But, here’s the thing when it comes to your dreams: mindset is everything.
It takes just one belief stuck on auto play to stop you from achieving what you want - one single belief that you mull over and over to keep you stuck.
Has this ever happened to you?
You start a creative project and as you near completion you feel mysteriously drained and blocked and wonder if it’s worth the time and effort. You decide it’s not, based on your feelings so you give up and move on to something else and then wonder why you are in the exact same place with your dreams in a year.
I’ve been there, and it’s quite common among artists.
Therapists say this a common coping mechanism used to deny pain and ward off vulnerability. Apparently, people who grow up in dysfunctional homes use this device often as well.
It’s a self protection mechanism where our subconscious wants to avoid failure, rejection, and criticism, so we tell ourselves that it’s just not worth it, that because we’ve lost the passion, we should just move on.
Unfortunately that mindset will only defeat us. It doesn’t really protect us, it only keeps us blocked.
The hard truth is, we’ll never be able to force people to validate us or our work, but the good news is we don’t need validation from others. It’s not like air or water, we can survive without the approval of others. We can create our own safe environments.
But that will require a change in mindset.
With the right tools and resources, you can literally change the way you think.You can replace those unhealthy beliefs with healthier ones. You can trade those toxic thoughts with ones that motivate you to take action and get the results you want.
It starts with being mindful of the way you talk to yourself.
We all need to learn to talk to ourselves like we would talk to our favorite young child: with encouragement, empathy, and kindness.
Sure, the growth journey is erratic and sometimes you’ll feel like you’re taking 3 steps forward and one step back, but be patient with yourself and don’t give up.
Sometimes you’ll feel sluggish, sometimes the journey will seem hopeless, and sometimes you might feel angry. But remember to treat yourself gently and kindly.
And fight hard against the nasty habit of comparing yourself with others, too. Each person’s journey is as unique as their fingerprint.
“Don’t compare yourself with others, you are like no one else ever created since the beginning of time.” who said this, see book
If you’re feeling blocked on this creative journey, it may very well be that you need to break free from a dysfunctional way of thinking. You need a new mindset!
This change will not only be good for your art, it’ll be good for your mental health, too, but you will need to give it the focus necessary to make changes.
Here are some resources to help.
How to transform a toxic mindset into a more positive life
One simple practice to boost your optimism + improve your life
How to overcome fear-based thinking with one super smart strategy
Have you buried that creative child so deep, that you’re not even sure who she is?
Yeah, that’ll keep you stuck for sure.
We’ll be exploring that more in the next blog post, but for now take some time to get quiet and ask yourself these three questions. It’ll help you start to uncover that person you’ve been hiding.
If I could change my past, I’d have grown up to be...
If I had all the money I needed, I’d let myself…
If it weren’t too late I’d…
Here’s to a productive week of exploring and creating my friend! And remember, birthing anything of value can be tiring, emotional, and uncomfortable at times, but the best way to get unstuck and break the cycle of defeat is to take SOME type of action on a daily basis. It doesn’t have to be huge, either. Small efforts done consistently make a difference. Just don’t give up. Finish what you start.
If you stay with that dream of yours, chances are you discover something quite beautiful.
Hello! I’m Karen Ferguson, author, content creator, and the owner of Illuminate Communications, LLC.
I’m all about illuminating God’s Truth and His love through the power of words.
It’s my mission to inspire, encourage, and equip you on your faith-journey by providing books, tools, and resources that will help you grow in your relationship with Jesus, and thrive in mind, body, and spirit.
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