Full body creativity freeze
Has it happened to you? It has happened to me!
I had decided to spend a recent vacation day making music.
I was slow finding my way to my guitar. When I did sit down my mind felt blank in a bad way—like a thick mist encased it.
I started playing a familiar picking pattern to ease my way in. And then, my chest started to tighten.
I shifted to a different chord progression. The tightness became a dull ache.
I dug out a *fun* percussion loop to play along with. My stomach swirled dangerously.
I put the guitar down and took a break until the unpleasant feelings had subsided. Then I tried again and repeated pretty much this exact same painful process three more times.
I have decided to call this experience ‘full body creativity freeze’. It is deeply unpleasant. Have you had it? It seems like it might be the result of perfectionism and procrastination having a playdate, which… bad idea.
There are times it happens when I just have to ride it out. Other times, I find I can untangle the dense mess of difficult emotions and find new openings for musical ideas and expression through that process.
This week, I am sharing some things I’ve noticed while attempting the untangling.
Big love and keep going,
Lucy
On moving through ‘full body creativity freeze’
MEMO - Check: have I recently accumulated any recent visions of perfection?
Ask: Have I internalized ideas or rules about music-making and creativity that are making themselves felt right now? Are they good ideas or rules? Or, do they deserve to be vanquished? Perhaps you subconsciously picked up recently that “only boring songs are written in C Major”. Perhaps idea has made itself a block. Perhaps you should simply write the damn song in C Major!
MEMO - Check: am I putting shit on my future self?
Perhaps some ideas are coming but you are judging them as “not very good”. Perhaps you are simultaneously are afraid you won’t have what it takes to make them better. Perhaps, in other words, you are putting shit on your future self and its ability to have learned new skills, or show discernment. All of this doubting and squeezing makes most people feel too constricted to create. (How embarrassing to create *bad art*, after all!) What might become possible if you just kept going and fully trusted that your future self will have the ability to do better work than you right now?
MEMO - Check: what happens if I simply dance?
When you feel stuck in full body creativity freeze, see what happens if you throw on a favorite song and dance til you’re out of breath and sweaty. Sometimes our bodies just need to move.
Let me know: Have you had similar experiences to what I’m calling ‘full body creativity freeze’? How did you move through it?