Overcoming and understanding creative ruts
Anyone who’s into creative arts knows how frustrating it is to get completely stuck. No new ideas, feeling inadequate, losing inspiration and motivation — it simply feels horrible. Let us examine how to manage it.
I personally tend to get anxious, stressed out and even slightly depressed if I’m not able to carry out my creative needs. The anxiety comes from the passion to create, but not being able to. I use creativity to express myself and to draw meaning from it. If something that holds much importance and meaning is taken away from me, I start to feel meaningless — possibly a very slippery slope into an existential crisis for a sensitive person. 😱 If you’re anything like me, you perhaps share the frustration and distress.
Good news — it’s temporary
Creative ruts are not like some mythical beasts, that you’re completely powerless in the face of. Oh no, they are quite manageable. Remember that everything is temporary. Being stuck is not eternal and it’s definitely not the end of the world. It is simply being in between projects, ideas and endeavours. It is a cycle where everything cannot be equally good all the time. For a beginner this is harder to see, because you need to experience the complete cyclical nature of it in order to recognise the patterns of failing and succeeding.
I’m in a creative rut as we speak (almost six months and counting), but perhaps the first time in my life I’m not too worried, even though this is the most long standing and deepest rut of them all. I’ve personally experienced something similar so many times before, that I know for a fact that something truly inspiring will eventually emerge, even though it may feel like an eternity. Some patience is needed, for sure.
When a previous project comes to an end, it is an opportunity to move forward and venture into something new. It might be something completely new and even surprising, which is why I’d keep an open mind in order to recognise and accept it.
“Anything forced is not beautiful”
—Xenophon
I feel that it’s important to let go of previous interests if needs to be. Maybe you lost the initial spark and passion for a particular project and now you’re trying to insist that that is still your thing. What if it’s not? Could it be time to let go and move to another direction? Have you paid attention to your intuition? What does it say? Is there something else that it is trying to show you, but you’re afraid of accepting it because you insist holding on to your previous project? Have you paid attention to your true motivations? Do you cling to the same project, only because you once gained momentarily attention for it? Are you doing what you’re doing out of envy for someone else’s fame?
Currently I don’t feel like I’m not producing anything that spectacular. Despite the current rut, I still take photos, even though they are not perhaps my best work. How ever, they don’t need to be my best work. I take them, because I recognise something in them and I try to listen to my intuition. Every project cannot be equally good or important and it would be unrealistic to expect otherwise. Likewise, it’s unreasonable expecting to be equally active or accomplishing all the time. Sometimes we just slow down for whatever reason, which isn’t to say it would be impossible to gain new momentum after a while. Failing is ok. Experimenting is ok. Taking a break completely is ok too, maybe even taking a stab at a completely different hobby. Sometimes it’s good to pick up a paint brush instead a camera. Or maybe writing in order to reflect your thoughts about photography. Or how about studying art history or take up hiking or whatever? Another activity can be really fruitful, because you can potentially link something like that into your photography later on, giving it a refreshed point of view.
Will I ever be good again?
I’ve gone though some phases (or projects) that I see as important or otherwise meaningful. Sometimes, on the other hand, I drift towards mini-projects that come from a completely different need. This might be a silly metaphor, but a boxer doesn’t try to throw in a knock-out blow on every strike, but they are hidden in between jabs. Or think of a painter who most likely needs to scribble many sketches between actual paintings. They cannot all be masterpieces.
During 2017—2019 I was heavily invested in my classical street photography project that I still see as a strong body of work. It is somewhat easier to appreciate something like that, than my current “project” of taking photos of trees and branches, which definitely isn’t as sexy or instagrammable, but, I find a kernel of something in it none the less. Maybe it is a starting point for something I don’t yet understand. I try not to overlook it or dismiss it as useless, just because it isn’t my magnum opus. Maybe it is a just a smaller little project-thingie in between couple of larger ones, and if that is the case, I’m fine with it.
In the mean time, I very much look forward to the upcoming months, because I can feel there’s something new and inspiring waiting to be discovered.
