Weall feel it from time to time. That little emptiness of energy. The jolt of stumbling in front of a blank page. The electrified tension between you and your thoughts. As if you are afraid of them. You don’t trust them enough inside you and you definitely don’t trust them to be put out in public. Blocks can happen through all the creative crafts. Nobody has immunity in them and no one has yet found the recipe to get over them. What has been established as the most certain way of getting over it, is simply ignoring the feelings and keep working your way out of it. And this surely seems to work most of the time. But what hides behind the creative block in the first place. Is it just a lack of energy? Lack of inspiration or motivation? And besides everything else, is there any better way to get over the sluggishness and drainage of it?

Every time I start a new project, whether if it is a new medium article, story or anything that requires creativity to start flowing like the juice out of an orange, I come against a chasm. My self is divided into 2 separate entities. The one that is the productive, innocent source of feelings and experiences holding my real opinions as they come. Holding the truths I hide inside me, burning to be liberated out as I feel and sense them. The second one is the ‘blocker’ that is criticizing the first one on everything he tries to express and filters out anything politically incorrect. He is the editor that cares more about numbers and impressions than pure expression. He is the governor that manipulates the press to keep over his realm and position of power. Or so it seems to him. His agenda is different from the other one. Where he sees vulnerability he cuts it out. Where he sees unnecessary exposure, he hides it under the table. And all personal perspective is cut off from its root. He plays in the communicational level, trying to keep the status quo. And although not the worst thing that could happen it creates all these mental blockages that so many people stumble in and blockade us from the results and freedom we really cater for.

Creativity is a multidimensional game. It gets stepped over by many different forces and it can get hindered by several opposing powers. If we are to overcome it we need a better view of the subject.

People are self-sabotaging machines

This first hurdle to overcome is self-sabotaging. It’s the first fence that sits over around us in hint sight. And there is nothing harder than the invisible opponent, the one you cannot see. But why would someone sabotage himself from success? Isn’t that all we all strive for in the first place? Apparently success exposes the individual in ways that are not all that clear most of the time. The first and foremost adversity to overcome… the suffering hero mindset. We all have it. Some to a small degree and others to a much greater extent. It is so much easier to kill all your chances for success beforehand and snooze upon the dream that you didn’t give your best shot and that you could have and would have if you wanted it. Why risk getting yourself out there and failing. The suffering hero is nothing but a story created after the fact to explain the lack of attempt. The not trying. Failures hide so many heavy questions underneath that their weight can be overwhelming without realizing it. What would be the repercussions of you trying and failing? What are you supposed to do if reality strikes you in a way you didn’t anticipate? How many people are ok to even ask these questions, face to face. Does it mean you have no future in that particular craft? That you have to change direction and ideas radically? How does it affect your self-image overall?

It’s surprising to see that striving for the next level needs so much preparation and work. Not only you need to ask the questions but you need to come in terms with the answers as well. You need to be ok with not being as good as you would like to be and you have to be ok to take the hit and work your ass off to overcome it.

Turning Within

Another big reason for the lack of inspiration is looking externally for answers that should be found within. So many people lose themselves in the thoughts of doing something compulsively, as the thing that will bring them happiness. They identify with the image of it as if it is the missing piece of the puzzle in their lives that will make them fulfilled. It’s the point where vanity meets narcissism. But this attitude is bound to fail. It will blind your eyes from your craft and the thing you love, turning your focus over the superficial aspects of it. The very thing that is right in front of you ready to provide you with all the stimulus and inspiration you need is getting pushed aside with one move. Its an irony.

Ata second level, looking externally will force you to see your craft through the eyes of your audience. You will try to imagine what would be good for them, what would they like. You will determine your actions coming from the frame of outside expectations and there are lots of people preaching that this is the attitude you should have in the first place. But things aren’t always that simple. Although it’s true that the audience can be one of the main sources of motivation for someone what an audience really wants to see is not what you think they would like to see but what you see in your most authentic and original way possible. This is what they are really there for. They are looking for your true perspective on things as it comes naturally and uninfluenced from your core. The purest it is, the better. The more uncontaminated, the more awesome.

Stopping The Inner Critic

The inner critic is a narrative hidden under an image. The narrative says that if you show too much you’ll become exposed, vulnerable. You imagine people scolding and criticizing you. Looking disapprovingly. These images are well hidden as they are established. If you want to have a chance of expressing yourself fully and completely you need to eradicate them. Authenticity takes work. Constantly. You need to mold and protect it every moment. You need to be proactive. You can’t leave it for the last minute. When the fear cripples in, it’s gonna be too late. You need to be ready beforehand. And there is only one way to do this. Digging deep and coming face to face with your worst nightmares.

Cultivating Trust

It’s very easy to adopt the wrong perspective when exposing yourself. You can fell down a path of hypothetical scenarios. Imagining your enemies taking advantage of you being exposed. Looking for opportunities to attack. It’s this bug creating all the fear and mistrust, forcing you to close up and set sky-high boundaries all around you. Why opening up when there is the possibility of getting mocked and ridiculed. Why be authentic and original when there is the possibility of being scrutinized and harshly judged. There is only one antidote to this. You need to come in terms with the fact that it could happen and you could get misunderstood. But so what? You managed to do what everybody else is so scared of. You managed to reach a point that very few people have managed to and you had the guts to do it knowing all the dangers of it. Build the trust that your truth means more than anything. Everything else will follow on its own…