Creative Block And Strategies To Overcome It

We have all experienced the feeling that comes from a creative block. This paralysis usually occurs for several reasons: stress, presence of insecurities or fears, demanding too much from oneself. Furthermore, in most cases, more factors combine to enhance the effect they would have individually.

In the presence of a creative block , the ideal is not to obsess, as excessive stress will aggravate the situation. The solution to the problem often lies in the origin of the problem.

Tracing the origin of the problem

A creative block can have several causes. Before applying a solution, the ideal is to analyze the situation in which we find ourselves in order to know the circumstances that have blocked us. The main causes of an emotional block are:

• Stress : It is very difficult to be creative in a stressful situation. A complicated period at work or in our personal life can therefore be the basis of an emotional block.

• Insecurity : Being unsure of your ideas is another factor that can lead to a creative block.

• High requirement : when nothing we do seems good enough to us, we are convinced that we must improve at all costs, to the point that we no longer have new ideas.

• Tiredness : Lack of sleep can compromise the proper functioning of our brain, preventing us from performing at our usual pace.

Strategies for overcoming an emotional block

Once you have identified the source of the problem, you can try one of the following solutions.

1. Satisfy your basic needs

What may seem obvious is not when we persist in finding a solution that doesn’t come. We forget that we haven’t washed for a week and that the flies that run around us are not just the product of the heat.

Satisfying our basic needs will make us feel better and satisfied and then start creating.

2. Relax and have fun

Just as the body must be rested and healthy, a cheerful and optimistic attitude favors the flow of creativity. The good news is that this attitude is based on habits and can be trained. Dwell on the expression on your face and change it with a smile. Smile as often as you can during the day, at some point you will do it without realizing it.

Try to relax and dedicate time to your pastimes. When the time comes to create, you will need an escape route. The best way to not obsess about our lack of creativity when we are stuck is to switch off and do an activity that distracts us.

3. Read, consume content instead of trying to produce it

Reading is a great tool for enriching ourselves and learning. If you’re stuck, reading a book can help you get distracted and come up with new ideas to apply at work.

Analyzing paintings will be used for painters, sculptures for sculptors and radio programs for speakers. Inspiration, on many occasions, comes from a good dose of knowledge.

4. Therapeutic writing

There is a form of therapeutic writing that can help us in certain circumstances; we are talking about writing as a form of release, a way to give voice to one’s inner dialogue. True automatic writing, not for the purpose of writing for someone.

Legibility, style or form are not important. Fears, anger, hostility, fatigue, frustrations, disappointments, etc. are invited.

Start writing the first words that come to your mind, the one that haunts you. Put it all on paper without worrying about style or literary quality. The best thing you can do as soon as you finish is to read what is written, analyze it to try to better understand what is boiling in your mind and then destroy the paper. Burn it as a symbolic act, to make a clean sweep.

5. Get out of the comfort zone

If there is a style or genre in which we feel comfortable and in which we usually work, we must try to get out from time to time from this routine in which we move with the automatic pilot inserted. We have to try new options: if we are dedicated to writing, we write great content, crime or children’s content, etc. Something that differs a lot from our usual productions.

In this way our brain will be able to say: “I don’t like it, I don’t feel comfortable. Ok, ok, I will behave again as always if you recover our usual style ”. On the other hand, it is possible that what you have learned outside your routine will serve as an inspiration to generate new content in your field.