How do I move past creative blocks?
Many people get stuck and aren’t able to complete creative projects. But this can be particularly disturbing for people with obsessive-compulsive personality (OCP) and obsessive-compulsive personality disorder (OCPD). Because, as I see it, creativity springs from compulsion. There is something you need to do, but with a creative block you can’t.
The word “compulsive” has gotten a bad rap. Its etymology describes an inner urge that’s hard to resist. And that’s not always bad.
For example, writer Khaled Hosseini, whose novel The Kite Runner resonated with millions of readers, said “All stories I write are compulsive. Anything I’ve ever written was because I don’t have a choice. I write stories because I can’t wait to tell it, I can’t wait to see how it ends.”
Hosseini is not unique in this respect. Most creative people create not because they simply want to. They have to. And that’s compulsive.
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The Compulsive and Creative Unconscious
The unconscious produces these irresistible, creative urges for a reason. They aren’t random or necessarily pathological, but arise from a deep human need to evolve.
While these creations are sometimes solely for the benefit of the creator, others speak to an entire culture, prodding it to move in a more balanced direction.
This deep creative urge is part of evolution. Put poetically, it’s nature’s way of helping life to thrive. But more scientifically, it’s simply that if some of us have a tendency to try new things, we’re all more likely to survive because we have more options.
Obsessive Perfectionism and Creative Blocks
But no matter how strong, this compulsive, creative urge can be blocked by the obsessive part of obsessive-compulsive. Some people who are obsessive-compulsive dwell mainly in the obsessive (thinking) realm, and don’t make it to the compulsive (doing) realm. (See my post about the four types of OCPD.) The obsessive part tends to over-think what the compulsive/creative part hopes to do, to the point that they can’t complete—or even start—tasks.
Obsessing can lead to perfectionistic standards and then to procrastination—which keep you from following through on the urge to create because you imagine that it won’t be good enough.
So, you see the problem. Your obsessive side and your compulsive side are at odds.
Maybe we should call it compulsive-obsessive when we have creative blocks, since the urge to create arises but obsessive thinking keeps us from following through.
Here are four tools to help you move past your creative blocks:
1. Approach Anxiety: Don’t Try Think Your Way Out of It
Obsessing is basically a way of trying to avoid the anxiety that usually comes with creation. Rather than leaning in to the anxiety, the obsessive persons keeps trying to think their way past it, imagining that they can avoid it by figuring out how to keep things from going south through planning and control.
Typically obsessives sense a feeling coming on that they don’t want to have, for instance dread, sadness, or powerlessness, and they start “thinking” with the unconscious hope that if they can just figure it out they won’t experience the horrible feeling.
A certain amount of pro-active planning can be adaptive, but too much and you never get anything done.
The cure for almost all anxiety is approach rather than avoidance. Anxiety itself isn’t really a problem—seeing the anxiety as dangerous and avoiding it by not completing projects is the problem.
No-on ever died from anxiety. It is uncomfortable, but it’s not dangerous.
Expose yourself to what you fear by taking chances, or by coming to terms with the worst case scenario. Rather than trying to prevent a disaster, know that you can survive it.
Research tells us that we handle catastrophes much better than we think we will. (Check out Daniel Gilbert’s book Stumbling on Happiness, or his article about affective forecasting.) This tendency to underestimate our resilience applies to imagined disasters such as vehement criticism of our work.
You’ve already survived far worse than that.
Once you’ve come to terms with the worst case scenario, return to the present and savor the process of making something new.
Even if you just decide to write (or whatever your creative venue is) for five minutes, you’re going in the right direction.
2. Separate Your Insecurity from Your Creative Project
But why does creativity make us so anxious? Often it’s because creative urges and talent have been hijacked for other purposes. The energy originally intended for creativity is enlisted to prove worth or goodness in order to calm insecurity or a sense of inadequacy.
The need to prove worth or goodness puts too much weight on the creative product and it becomes harder to complete it.
The “what ifs” take over:
• What if it reveals that I’m really not a creative, smart person?
• What if this is really just selfish and indulgent?
• What if I’m just wasting everyone’s time with this?
• What if it looks like I didn’t work hard enough on it?
• What if it’s not complete?
• What if I have to work really hard at it, does that mean I’m not really smart or talented?
If you fear that the completion of your project will reveal that you have no talent, you may unconsciously feel that it’s better to stay in the limbo of not knowing. For some people, their identity as a creator is so fundamental to their sense of themselves that they can’t tolerate taking the chance of finding out that they aren’t what they had hoped they were.
Your project may not “succeed” by resonating with others. That’s the risk that always come with being creative. But success or “failure” doesn’t indicate whether you are, or are not, a good or worthwhile person. That needs to be a decision separate from the success of the project you’re working on.
Be very clear with yourself what you’re doing this project for. What was your original intention? What is important about it? Don’t let your insecurities hijack the more organic and forward-looking cause.
You can’t control whether others will like your project, but you can control whether you follow through on your inspirations.
3. Personify and Dialogue with the Blocker
Creative blocks are a standoff—a conflict between two parts of your personality. Many people experience an inner critical voice which sets unrealistic standards that keeps them from completing projects. This part of you may feel that it has a protective role to play as a quality control gatekeeper, making sure that you don’t put out work that’s sub-par and leads to external criticism.
But these voices often get too big for their britches. They take command rather than serving as a consultant, tricking us into thinking they should be in charge. The perfect becomes the enemy of the good.
I’ve described how to dialogue with these voices in a previous post. Approach the critical voice with respect and curiosity. And communicate that it doesn’t need to scrutinize you so much.
This dialogue requires time alone when you won’t be disturbed so that you can go into a state deep enough to actually feel that voice’s concern. And so that the critical part of you can experience the creative part as competent enough to pull it off. It needs to be an emotionally engaged interaction–not just an effort to make yourself more reasonable. Write it out in your journal as it happens.
If the critical part of you learns to trust the creative part of you, it’s more likely to allow projects to move forward. Otherwise, it will dig its heels in and save you from putting out what it sees as a looming disaster.
4. Create in the Present, Not the Past
Unresolved issues from the past can also cause creative blocks. Even if you aren’t aware of it, you may feel as if you’re still living in the past, dealing with problems from childhood that keep you from completing projects.
• You fear surpassing a parent or sibling.
• You want to punish a parent for what they did wrong by not giving them the gratification of seeing you succeed.
• You refuse to commit to a project and complete it in order to rebel against authority figures. If you felt controlled when you were young, you may feel a strong urge to be autonomous by not being diligent. Autonomy is a powerful motivator. You may unwittingly sacrifice creativity to be free of control, if diligence means control to you.
These sorts of blocks may require a deep dive with a therapist to work through. But on your own you can at least journal and review what your priorities are. Is it to do battle with the past, or move into the future? As with issues of insecurity and inadequacy, unresolved issues from the past need to be separated from your creative urges.
The Way Forward
Moving past creative blocks isn’t easy or simple. But responding to those compelling urges that originally inspired you, and seeing the creative project finished, is well worth it.
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