So many artists claim that their anxiety inspired their work. Another chunk of artists would tell you that anxiety killed their creativity. How about you? Do you think that anxiety kills creativity? or you’re team’s anxiety could be inspiring?
Does anxiety kill creativity?
Many critics have concluded that Vincent Van Gogh’s paintings were the direct result of his anxiety and/or depression. As an artist myself (nowhere nearly as great as Van Gogh was), I tend to be less romantic about mental health issues. I see Vincent Van Gogh’s art as having happened in spite of, rather than because of, his mental anguish. Could I be wrong? maybe.
Throughout the years, I have had moments of doubt, fear, and anxiety. I have had many of those, and I was able to see the complex relationship between anxiety or any mental anguish and creativity. Depending on the situation, fear and anxiety have inspired and impeded me. But when I was anxious enough to get overwhelmed, my creative work often stalled, and I fell into art blocks.
Why do I think that anxiety killed my creativity at that moment?
At a moment of severe anxiety, my attention shifts from creative thinking to alertness. I am more focused on the fear that comes along with my anxious thoughts than on being able to get creative or practice art.
If an artist is worried about losing her day job, for example, it’s harder for her to focus on her art. Excessive anxiety bypasses all nonthreat-related tasks, and people regress to basic survival mode. Most attention, thinking, and emotions will be focused on dealing with the source of the danger, whether it’s real or imagined. And creative minds are especially adept at the latter.
Then, when does anxiety inspire creativity?
You would think at this point that anxiety kills creativity, no doubt. However, there’s a sweet spot of anxiety that actually harnesses motivation and cognition and directs all attention to the task at hand.
With a deadline so close ahead, we often tend to work so much better and faster and come up with the most creative of ideas. That anxiety of not meeting a deadline is enough to inspire you to buckle down and get the work done.
Putting anxiety and creativity side by side
Anxiety comes from fear, and fear is focused on survival, while creativity can only happen when our survival needs are met. So why are we referring to anxiety and creativity as two comparable things?
Anxiety (or fear) and creativity are also very similar in that both are automatic and follow an intuitive process. Creative works are not the result of logical thinking alone. Art grows inside the artist autonomously while the artist keeps feeding it (through knowledge, inspiration, and personal experiences); when the time comes, delivery happens. Fear and anxiety are also mostly intuitive. When we notice a car coming towards us, for example, we leap out of the road before thinking about the driver’s intentions.
In that sense, we don’t fully control our anxiety and creativity. For both to work productively, a balanced harmony needs to exist between the unconscious and the conscious mind, if that makes any sense at all.
Conclusion
When people tell me the narrative of anxiety or any mental struggle leading to creativity, I sense a bit of desperation in the way that we still today believe that creativity is not the fruit of effort and hard work but is some mysterious thing we don’t choose to have and is not for everyone. Personally, I do not approve of this perspective, but how about you?
Enjoy creating <3
