Have you ever felt completely stuck? Like you have all these ideas, but they stay in some kind of creative purgatory with no way out? You can’t act on them, and you don’t know why. Nothing is flowing. Everything feels stagnant.
When people talk about “writer’s block”, I’ve always assumed it meant they have no new ideas. But I think it’s worse than that. You still have ideas, but you’re doubting every single one.
You’re constantly questioning: “Is it good enough?” Our internal critic shuts us down before the idea has a chance to breath.
I’ve personally felt like this for the last six months. The ideas are there, but I don’t know what to do with them. Well actually: I know exactly what to do with them. I’m just scared. I don’t even know if I know what I’m scared of. Scared of baring my soul again? Afraid people won’t like my new ideas?
All this fear drives me insane. It happens to me every time I release an album. I think it’s partly because I’m still too close to the thing I just made, and I compare every new idea to what I’ve already done.
I start asking myself: “Is my best work behind me?” “Should I play it safe and just recreate what I’ve already done?” I talk myself in circles, and end up creating nothing at all.
The most annoying part is: I know exactly what I need to do to get unstuck. I need to just start.
And so that’s what I’ve decided to do. Challenge myself to write a new piece every day, for thirty days. (Maybe more? We’ll see how it goes.) It doesn’t matter how short it is, or how good. I know it’s the only way to turn off the chatter in my brain, to get into my heart, and back into a creative flow.
Photo by Simon Berger on Unsplash
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