When Writer’s Block Is a Creativity Block

Is your writing stuck? Mine has been recently. Oh, I’m still writing, thank goodness, and on a daily basis, but much of what I write feels as lifeless as last fall’s leaves that have been uncovered recently by the melting snow. The words just lie there, soggy, crushed, faded, leftover from another season.

When this happens, I know that the words are not the real problem. The “block” is occurring on a level far deeper than the surface of a sheet of paper. It’s a creativity block, which is, at its core, a meaning block. We can’t write with passion and power about life’s moments, especially the small, most important moments, unless we feel those moments are meaningful, unless we live them fully.

National Geographic photographer Dewitt Jones writes in “Seeing the Ordinary as Extraordinary” that being creative is about falling in love with the world:

“Passion, flexibility, care and service, celebration. Isn’t this the attitude you’d like to bring to your association every day? Well, it’s what you put in motion every time you fall in love with the world, everytime you see the ordinary as extraordinary, everytime you are… creative.” Read More

Cynthia Morris offers another valuable perspective on creativity in her article “Too Much, Not Enough – Why Creative People Shouldn’t ‘Tone It Down’“(published yesterday on Douglas Eby’s extensive Talent Development site). She writes, “I’ve been accused of being ‘too much’ all my life. Too loud, too fast, too smart, too multi-talented, too audacious. I’ve never been able to live according to that external standard of ‘just right’”:

“Creative people need to be ‘too much’

Artists are often ‘too much’. It’s the job of the artist and writer to reflect what they see and feel. This expression of their art and talents must be larger than life.

The trouble is, our expression doesn’t always jibe with what’s going on in the ‘normal’ world.

Once creative people stop trying to calibrate their expression to a ‘norm’ they can thrive more easily.” Read More

My writing is a valuable barometer, not so much for my writing itself, but for my creativity, my living, for the extent to which I am engaged with my life and the world rather than just going through the motions.

Unlike Cynthia, I’m often very good at finding that “just right” Goldilocks balance (read one reason why). But being just right isn’t who I am.

In the past, these difficult thoughts and feelings would have led to depression. Something I’ve learned, however, is that the most uncomfortable emotions and realizations are extremely valuable in a life of personal growth. An article I read recently on positive personality development (for a graduate class I’m taking on developmental psychology) emphasized that “one crucial way to make progress on the road toward personality growth is to experience challenges to adjustment,” and “experiencing negative emotions (an integral part of personality maturity) might actually improve [an] individual’s ability to experience positive emotions.”

In other words, we don’t always want to shout down negative feelings with positive mantras or assume that feeling “stuck” is a sign that we have stopped growing.

We might just be getting ready to allow ourselves to be too much, to fall in love with the world all over again.