Have You Ever Faced Creative Block?

 Have you ever faced writer’s block? I am sure most of us have. Not just limited to writing, but this ‘block’ troubles everyone irrespective of field, interest, and profession, at some point in life. 

You could be a writer, painter, photographer, singer, film-maker, crafter, content creator, working in any profession, or just a simple human, who can think, you have certainly faced this block at one or the other point in your life.

How do you overcome it? What do you do to let this block go or disappear? Do you read, write, watch your favorite shows, just talk about it to peers; or keep your work aside and focus on something else.

Well, to me it feels as if this writer’s block has been consistent with me forever now. Alright, there are a few phases, when I am able to put down my thoughts on paper (and then key it in the system) and sometimes, even record them for my podcast.

But I miss those days when I used to think and write so fluently that I would surprise myself. It has been a long time since that phase.

I keep thinking about what I should do to overcome this (ever-lasting) phase? I read, listen, watch, distract and even write forcefully. But nothing has been very satisfying, to be honest.

In Varun’s case (a mechanical engineer, turned content-marketing specialist of an ERP firm, who magically transforms into an artist by the evening), an artist’s block robbed him of his creativity and he wasn’t able to create his masterpieces as to his satisfaction. I suggested that he should undergo some meditation course that would help him see ‘his calling’, identify the blocks, and help him come out of them.

He kept saying … ‘hmmm’ while listening attentively to me for months (yeah there are things he just listens to me about, making me believe he is actually interested in it, while actually not doing anything about it… he is my husband after all). 

Well, trying not to digress from the topic; not that Varun was not creating his artworks, but even I could feel the lack of that creative euphoria in his art. Finally, he decided to do a short-term course to revive his creativity. That should help him get perspective, more ideas, look at things from a different angle, etc. 

In my case, I even did a short month-long course. It was insightful and helped me with technical details. Then I got interested in more courses that platform had to offer, across various fields (everything but writing). Well, I did manage to write a few short stories all this while. However, I still feel stuck somewhere.

Is this lack of motivation or perhaps I am not dedicated enough to this piece of art. But then as most authors say, write every day, something by every day. SO here I am writing something today.

Tell me what do you do when you feel that blocked and how do you channelize your creativity?