Thinking about being creative

The joy of creativity, 2022, Myungja Anna Koh

To break out of a creative slumps.

  ​We feel a sense of happiness and fulfillment when we create something. Creating something with your hobbies or artistic activities in your repetitive, monotonous daily life makes the day sparkling and lively. Moreover, we learn and hear a lot about the importance of creativity.

 Creativity is the ability to create items that inspire and inform others, often in aesthetically pleasing ways. Therefore, literally, it is a necessary and crucial ability and talent not only in art but in all fields. Creative people constantly change their surroundings with inspiration and ideas, create trends, and bring people together to do great projects. In this way, creativity plays an important role.

   ​In the realm of art, such creativity is fundamental to the extent that no further explanation is needed. Due to the attribute of art, you have to keep thinking about something and creating something. You can seriously damage your livelihood if you don't constantly come up with these ideas. This is why, for artists, creativity is the most incredible sense of accomplishment and joy, and at the same time, it brings you tremendous pain.

  ​However, creativity, an essential element for artists, does not naturally spring up every day like a well. If so, how good would it be?

 Studies have shown that most successful creative artists have experienced extreme pain, such as poor childhood circumstances, severe interpersonal conflicts,  loss, divorce, congenital disease and poverty. Paradoxically thinking again, these human pains and anxieties made them immerse themselves in the work, face the absurdity and dark side of the world, and analyze it more deeply. we concluded that they added depth and creativity to their work in the process. So some even have a fear of healing their painful experiences, hoping to retain this creativity.

Will we "lose" our creativity if we deal with emotional health issues?
Cheryl Arutt, Psy.D., a psychologist specializing in creative artist issues, says, "Many creative people… worry that they will lose their creativity if they work through their inner conflicts or let go of suffering…"  (Source: Pain and suffering and developing creativity By Douglas Eby)

  ​For creators, creating through their painful life may be more important than emotional healing under the psychological consultant. Instead, they want to internalize inner pain and make it a work of art, broadening their view of the world. These people who understand creativity and the pain of creation, which are most important to artists, constantly strive to create creative ideas every day and have their know-how.

Work of an unknown artist

  ​Let's take the blogger as an example and the art side. Many newbie bloggers post on blogs every new year. However, while posting with great hope, they suddenly bewilder. They experience that the subjects and titles of the article that was pouring out will not come out no matter how much you squeeze it from your brain. Especially when you are in a slump and mannerism, no words come to mind as if your head is empty.

When that happens, we think like this. "It's ok, if I want to write it again, I only have to post it later. It's too cumbersome and challenging right now. In this way, we lose persistence for something.

  It is not easy to consistently create something new every day. Frequently, we are stuck in creative slumps. All creators go through creative slumps. 

What started as a fun, hope, and interest in the beginning will be a different story if you continue to do this work. But creative people struggle to get out of this swamp of a slump. How much effort would it have taken? Maybe that's why, in order not to go through this painful and difficult process, there are artists who omit the process and commit unscrupulous plagiarism by copying only the results. This is an action that causes more damage to the painful creative process and life.  

  ​Then, how can we overcome the sudden slump and live with enjoying the process of creation every day?  For answer, I  would love to write about " Five ways to stay creative" or "The best ways to stay innovative", but I can't because this varies from case to case.

  When you can't think of anything, no matter how much you squeeze, it's good to make your know-how by yourself to overcome the situation well in a case where you need to make something.

  ​In my case, when a slump comes suddenly, I let those complicated thoughts flow through my head. First I go for a walk or start cleaning up my surroundings. I feel better once my body is refreshed with fresh air and energy and sit in a clean room.  At this time, I am drinking my favorite coffee and looking out the window without thinking. Then go to the studio and sit down on a chair. At this time, I do not intend to do anything but do the most basic of the work I have ever done. The idea for this basic concept came from my husband.

  He is currently teaching business administration at Stony Brook University and was in a  slump during his first Ph.D. If he had been knocked down in a recession, then he wouldn't have been able to become a professor. It is said that his husband then opened a math book that high school students read during a slump period. And he went back to the most basics. He said he had found it interesting to reread the basic text. In such fun, he was able to rethink and frame what mathematics is and what science is. It's a good idea to go back and start over when something gets stuck, and you can't move forward. After hearing the story, I also applied the tip to my work. Surprisingly, it was beneficial.  

  ​First, draw the most basic picture. It is about putting a shadow  in a cube, adding light and shade to a circle with cast shadow, repetitive and straightforward line drawing, and scribbling with dots, lines, and faces. These are the things I learned in art class when I was in middle and high school.

As I go back to the basics and practice, I feel a sudden opening in the blocked feeling. Because at some point, the feeling that I drew with a pencil for the first time comes back to life.
That clear and innocent feeling when I first drew a picture, the joy I could fully enjoy, the countless hopes I drew, the convictions about my talent….All of a sudden, I remember. Then I slowly come out of the slump.

  ​Creating something new occurs a explainless pain. The fun part is I searched for this creative pain, and I accidentally found "Creative Pain Tattoo Studio". It was not strange, even though the wrong content was found. Because the pain of tattoos and the pain of creation seemed similar. Creative activity is accompanied by pain that stabs the entire body to that extent.

  ​However, many artists and creators have run with their strength even amid such suffering. It doesn't matter what motifs pulled them or what life goals pushed their backs. Finally, they overcome the slump and mannerisms like Goliath that they encounter in the process of creation and eventually leaves the work. If you come to know it, I think the work itself is just a byproduct of perseverance.

Blogging is also a part of creativity. You have to write anew every day and think about the subject matter. Then, it may get clogged and no longer be used at some point. In that case, how about writing something that says about your feeling such a slump is written? Or how about going back to the direction you wrote it in the first place?

Always, I hope that we can all rather enjoy the pain of creation and survive within it.