When I first got my hands on a DSLR, I was fearless. I took photos and videos of everything, and I was just so excited about the power and possibilities of this little machine. Maybe you remember that feeling too, and maybe you smile and say, "yeah, those photos were terrible." They were terrible, but they represented exploration and discovery.
Now, approaching the art form of your choice feels heavy. The pen is the weight of a brilliant novel. The camera is laden with photography awards. Art isn't fun when it's heavy. Isn't easy when it's full of anxiety.
What's so scary about art? Why is it so much harder to sit down and make something now then when you started? (It's not social media. Give it up for a week or a month and you'll see). It's fear, fear in the pit of your stomach, that if you try to make something as good as your inspiration, you're going to fail. And look like an idiot. And no one will take you seriously.
Of course, you may also have noticed that you can experience creative anxiety when you don't make anything at all because then you feel guilty or maybe depressed. Or maybe you just feel like a fraud.
5 Tools for Overcoming Creative Anxiety
1) Detachment. Remove perfectionism from the equation. Detach from:
- from a singular "perfect" vision
- the idea that you're in complete control.
- thinking your self worth comes from being a creative god/goddess who only ever graces the world with 100% perfect work
2) Embrace the failures that come with the first marks on the blank page. There is much failure in the life of a creative person. Many things will not go as intended. This can serve as inspiration or desperation. It's not merely that failure is inevitable though. It's that you need to explore your options in your medium in order to tangibly see what is or isn't working. 90% of the time I struggle with a project is time spent resisting the different options rather than just trying them and getting it over with. If the perfect piece only exists inside your head, you'll never get to experience the satisfaction of working to make it real.
3) Build self-awareness. Challenge the way you think about every aspect of creativity. Broadly, and narrowly. Use this as inspiration... as avenues of growth. The best ways that I know to do this is to read the kind of books that open your artistic mind and to talk to other people who are doing creative work.
4) Use accountability to make a real plan. Like an upcoming contest, a creative challenge, or another opportunity. In preperation for a conference, for example, I've challenged myself to submit some kind of work weekly until the event.
5) SHARE
- what you know
- your resources
- your time
- your energy
Creativity does not survive in a box. It comes from the unexpected collision of two different ideas. Not exactly something you can predict. Why not practice generosity as you participate in the randomness of creativity?
