Trauma robs you of the ability to focus on anything but the trauma. Creative symptoms: thoughts just don’t flow. Can’t make decisions. No confidence in decisions. Impostor syndrome.
It’s not you. Requirements for creativity: look at heirarchy of needs. Your foundation of fundamental needs is wrecked; how can creativity, at the top, escape intact?
You need Sleep, Daydreams, Collaboration, Sunshine, and Safety to be creative — but in trauma you have insomnia, can’t focus thoughts, are often isolated, don’t feel like going outside, and obv don’t feel safe.
It’s never too late to retroactively realize you’ve gone through this. If you failed, at a time you were going through this — forgive yourself. It wasn’t your fault.
Learn to control and still your thoughts — or your unconscious mind will keep obsessing over those bad things.
You must sleep. Try relaxation techniques. (Rec: Andrew Johnson) Meditation helps. Biofeedback devices. (Rec: Headspace, guided meditation, free trial)(rec: Buddafy)(rec: apple watch breathe)
Make lists. Train your brain to stop worrying about things once they are written down. Schedule time to think/research your worries.
Find ways to incorporate other people. Enlist your friends because they want to help. Get therapy, the way you would see any other specialist for a different medical problem.
The more you talk about what you’re going through, the more it stops being a dark, negative thing to hide. It just becomes part of your life.
Ease into creativity: Rock Band. Coloring books. Little ways to journey back. Not connected with your work. Judgment-free.
Plan your escape. Take your brain back. Step 1: sleep. Nothing moves until you can sleep. 2: find ways ti day dream again. 3: reach out to other people, talk about what you’re going through
4: get some fucking sunshine. 5: design a safe place to take creative baby steps. 6: gather things around you that make you happy. Schedule these things; build new habits. Journaling. Exercise.
Journaling everything become a key part of creativity. Unlocks your brain. These steps are the ways you get back to being and feeling like yourself again.
Endure. Wait it out. Choosing to brood, or choosing to reflect can determine whether you sink into depression or retain your creativity.
The things that we go through change us. In good ways, and bad ways, but you are gaining something. Perspective.
