Creative Blocks? ... Creative Blockchain?

Creativity is an odd compulsion. On the surface it has very little functional value. Music composition, writing, photography and art are not things you can eat, that give you shelter or take care of any basic physical human need. Unless you are in the minority able to garner a living from your creativity then making something that has never existed before serves some other purpose.

IN OUR DNA?
For those of us with some creative blocks in our DNA string there is something inherent in us that makes us want to produce. That is why a creative block, where we plateau and struggle to have an original thought or struggle with motivation, is a problem many experience from time to time. A creative block can be devastating if your creativity is a sizable chunk of your identity.
Blocks can strike at any time. It might follow a highly productive period, it could be the result of "real" life taking over in a positive or negative way or it could just be a total lack of inspiration or motivation.

SO WHAT CAN YOU DO WHEN YOU HIT A CREATIVE WALL?
I think one of the first things you can do is to recognize that a creative block is what is happening to you. Once you recognize this I've concluded over the years it is best to not get frustrated with yourself and to just take it as part of the natural ebb and flow of being a creative person. You will undoubtedly have times where you are inspired to create something incredible and times where nothing comes forth. This is OK. Generally if you force creativity because you feel you should then what you create is not going to be your best work.

CLOUDS THAT PASS?
Once you have taken the first step to recognize the creative funk you are in how long should you wait for the cloud to pass? This is difficult. If your creativity is a source of income you may not have the luxury of waiting. If your creativity helps keep your head in check mentally then waiting to long could risk getting in a black hole you never emerge from.
Really the only one that can answer this is you. If you can afford to wait out the calm then the storm of creativity will inevitably return eventually.

My personal experience is as a hobbyist musician/producer for over 20 years and I have been through many periods of creative block. I used to get very frustrated with myself and it did effect my mood and overall wellbeing. Nowadays I go with the flow and keep myself busy with other things during creative troughs.

CREATIVE DISTRACTIONS
For my current Jan-April 2018 creative block I did some other things that kept the right side of my brain firing. For one I joined Steemit and some of the Discord channels and tried my hand with music related blogging as well as just reading, listening and watching interesting stuff and interacting with people. I did some reviews and video demos for a music production website I write for. I even stepped out of my comfort zone when I was asked to do an interview (Something I had never done before). I ended up interviewing Jordon Rudess who is a classically trained virtuoso pianist and the keyboardist with the band Dream Theater. This was a great experience and stepping out of your comfort zone is highly recommended. I also did some sound design for some software synths. Now that I think about it all these distractions have an element of creativity to them so I suppose finding something outside of your chosen genre of creativity can be a good way to get out the other side of a block.

FRIVOLOUS AND MEANINGFUL DISTRACTIONS
Another way to pass the time and hopefully contribute to an eventual creative renaissance is to just do something mindless. Binge watch Game of Thrones or Teen Mom or Judge Judy, whatever floats your boat or numbs your mind for a while if that is what you need.
There are other things you can do that are constructive rather than creative. Making more of a concerted effort to spend quality time with family or friends is never going to be a bad thing in terms of getting your mind to a place it feels creative again.

TIPS TO KICKSTART YOUR CREATIVITY
So now you are at the stage where you feel that tingle in your subconscious to make something. What can you try?

• COLLABORATE
  Sometimes working in a vacuum is draining and finding someone to collaborate with can open up new avenues of creativity. There are numerous places to do this a quick google search away. Steemit and Discord seem like they are ripe platforms for collaboration. They are very social platforms and it seems like it is fairly easy to link up and create with like minded people. HitRecord is another great platform I would recommend for collaboration in film, music, animation, art and writing. https://hitrecord.org
• COMPETITIONS AND CHALLENGES
  There are lots of competitions and challenge posts right here on Steemit. @luzcypher Open Mic project, @timsaid MyPictureDay Challenge and @stach Short Story Contest are good examples of this but there are many many others. For Musicians there are online challenges like FAWM (February Album Writing Month) and remix competition websites like Indaba https://www.indabamusic.com/dashboard
• GOALS, DEADLINES AND SELF REWARDS
  Sometimes simply applying workplace logic to your own creative process can be useful. Try setting a goal to finish (or start) a creative project in the next week or month. Set a deadline and then delay gratification on something you really want right now and reward yourself when you meet your goal.
• OBLIQUE STRATEGIES
  In 1974 Brian Eno and Peter Schmidt released a deck of cards called Oblique Strategies designed to bump creatives out of their creative blocks. While they have been popular with musicians the cryptic advice and inspirations printed on them could be a useful creative primer for anyone. The cards feature instructions such as "Work at a different speed", "Honor thy error as a hidden intention", "Define an area as safe and use it as an anchor" and "Tape your mouth". There is an online version here that will give you the text from a random card from the Oblique deck if you want to try it out. http://stoney.sb.org/eno/oblique.html

OUT THE OTHER SIDE
My own recent block has just come to a close thankfully. I started a track back in January which was a collaboration/remix with a talented musician/vocalist called Eric Stogner. I had a basic outline of the track and knew what I wanted to do but every time I opened up the project to work on it my heart was not in it. When I started out years ago I probably would have given up and hit delete in a mixture of anger and self pity or forced myself to finish and created something truly soulless.
After a few months of necessary distractions I finally managed to finish the track.
You can listen to it here if you are interested: https://hitrecord.org/records/3472663
Whilst it may not be the best thing I ever produced it served a purpose to finally get me back on a creative track. I already have lots of new musical ideas which I have not had for a while.

Going through the processes I described was important for me. Your process may be different and one size does not fit all but hopefully some of the ideas and strategies that have helped me break the block may help you too.

Feel free to comment, follow, resteem or share your own ideas for overcoming creative blocks.

Image Credits Pixabay
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https://pixabay.com/en/room-office-modern-lectronic-2559790/
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