Creative Corrosion

What happens to our creativity when it is left unanswered or worse still, when it is met with judgement and beration; it corrodes. We all imagine that we can talk to ourselves however we please and expect it to have no impact on us or our patterns of behaviour. Because our internal voices are silently residing within us, we know that they can’t be heard by others so we are free to enter into extremes of thinking about ourselves and no one else knows. Yet, the way we talk to ourselves, view our abilities and approach our creativity is all impacted by that inner voice. Why would we ever imagine there is no repercussion to negative narrations that we replay to ourselves over and over again. 

see this with creatives because we need to access inner worlds of imagination to create art. But we can find ourselves sitting in a creative block stumbling around, unable to steady ourselves into streaming this creativity. We cannot access it because we have troubling thoughts preventing us from even seeing ourselves as creative, let alone worthy of making the art we desire. 

This is where we sit down to make art and we are met with the blank page and cannot muster the energy to put paint to paper. We have a recurring theme of not being good enough, of now knowing enough of not being ready. The materials aren’t right, the space we are sitting in isn’t conducive to our art practice. It isn’t any of the above; it is the fact that each time we meet the blank sheet, the time spent in these negative ruminations about ourselves and our art have been corroding our creativity. We are exhausted before we even get to the act of creating. 

We have belittled, shamed and guilt tripped our way to the table of creativity and then we expect ourselves to create freely with abandon and when we can’t we blame and shame ourselves a little more. And bit by bit, we are wearing away out desire to create because it becomes too painful. 

These experiences are not uncommon and they are not any reflection of your creative abilities. What they are a sign of is errant thinking that has been listened to for far too long and taken in as an identity. This identity is erasing the parts that deep down you want to create. It is corroding the very thing that you want to expand and express. 

Silencing the inner critic is now alway easy but it is always possible. It takes us removing our focus from these negative diatribes and putting energy into what you want to create. It is allowing yourself to sit at your table and make are no matter how good or bad. To allow that expression to be channelled through you no matter what the inner voice is telling you. You move ahead irrespective of the crowd chant that may be occurring internally. Because everytime you walk away from making art you enable the corrosion to remove your ability to create. Thankfully, everytime you lean into your creative energy and ignore the negative voice, you expand that energy and it is free to grow. 

There is no amount of corrosion that cannot be rectified by the act of creative rebellion. Making art in spite of the internal chatter. You, the artist, are in control of that choice and you get to have less than ideal thinking about your creativity and still make art. That is your right,that is your free will at work. 

You are not lazy or a procrastinator, you are using up energy to protect yourself from all these beliefs about yourself that are draining your energy. You’ve got multiple tabs open constantly and you are allowed to close them down, focus on yourself and create a safe space for you to create. 

 because if the negative narration in your head is being believed then you are creating against a tide that isn’t supporting you. There’s a disconnect and it’s abrasive and corrosive to your creativity.