Welcome Everyone! I’m Sol and today I will be writing a spiritual follow up for one of my more popular articles. I often work with creative people who are burned out after demanding too much of their creative side. Over the years I’ve developed practical techniques and advice for developing a consistently creative lifestyle without burning out! If you’re currently struggling with being burned out go ahead and read my article on Burnout again (or read it for the first time)! If you’re ready to develop your own personal creativity and find ways to tap into in on demand, then read ahead!
“Creativity can’t be forced, but we can learn to nurture it!”
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Over this series of articles I will be diving into the process of developing your own creativity with advice that applies to novices as well as veterans. Whether you are a painter, a singer, or writer this advice will work for you. If you are here from my conversations about Dungeons and Dragons, then this advice will certainly help you! I will discuss what creativity is and how society views creative work, ways you can establish an environment that encourages creativity, how to develop a healthy relationship with your own creative process, and a toolbox of techniques to refresh your mental and emotional energy so that you can sustain your creative pursuits. Because of the length of this content, the entire month of September will focus on this topic, but expect some great articles next month about tabletop roleplaying games!
Despite everyone being creative (and yes, you are creative!) Creativity is one of the least understood components of our human experience. We all have it in common to one degree or another, but really diving into what it is and where it comes from is complicated and uncertain. You could easily make the case that our creativity is a defining aspect of what it means to be human. Innovation, curiosity, and exploration come together in a unique mix to give us our fertile imaginations and drive our culture, art and technology forward. So, why don’t we know more about it?
Creativity is difficult to understand because it arises out of the tangled intersection of our biological brains and our social environment. We are just touching the surface on looking at what going on in our brains, so we are probably a long ways off before we can really look at the mechanics of creativity. Looking at the other component, society is a shifting landscape that shapes us constantly, but we rarely are very introspective about those influences. Add to that the myth and mystique surrounding art, and the way we undervalue creative work, it’s no wonder this is a mystery!
With such a fundamental misunderstanding of creativity it is no wonder that so many artists are struggling! We ask too much of them, ignore their process, underpay them, and then have no sympathy when they burn out! Aspiring creatives aren’t in any better spot either. With unrealistic expectations of their own creativity, the mystery behind the process, and the lack of quality tools to develop creativity, it is a daunting challenge to take up as a hobby, let alone try to make money with!
My first bit of advice for you is to give yourself permission to screw up, burn out, crash and burn and fail. Seriously, that one bit of advice is all over the place for a reason. You are going to be fighting an uphill battle to tap into one of the most powerful and least understood aspects of the human condition. You will almost certainly make mistakes, push yourself too hard, get frustrated and question your self-worth. I promise you though, you’re going to do great and you will learn to be consistently, passionately, creative.
In the next article in this series, I will dig deeper into how to begin the process of building an environment that allows creativity to flourish. Expect to learn a lot about yourself along the way and you can start this journey on the right foot. For those of you with more experience as a creative, read the next article with a critical eye for new approaches and ways you can set yourself up for even more success!
If you enjoyed this article and found it helpful, please support me by joining my ko-fi. Supporters get credit in my games, previews on upcoming work, and monthly retrospectives. You can also support me directly by buying the games I have developed on itch as well.
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