How To Overcome Creative Blocks

Why Do We Encounter Creative Blocks?

Before I go on to talk about how we can overcome creative blocks, I want to offer my perspective on why we often find ourselves in this situation, especially in today’s social media age.

Then I will offer a principle that you could reflect on and apply for yourself to free yourself from this problem.

Creating is Becoming Content

These days, I think creating is very much attached to performance.

You see creators left and right “documenting” their creative process.

But sometimes I wonder, why does it all seem so polished and perfect, unlike my creative mess?

No wonder it feels scary to create sometimes—because we see ourselves, and it doesn’t line up with how other creators portray themselves.

So we doubt ourselves: am I doing this right? Am I even good enough?

It’s hard to even begin. As a music producer, one of the most daunting things is a new, blank project. (Tip: use templates!)

The Pressure to Create

Maybe you have this vision that’s sitting at the back of your head that you’ve been putting off doing.

Maybe you want to be able to pursue your art full-time someday, but you’re too scared of what people might think.

Worse, what if my family sees it? What would they think?

Or maybe your art already puts food on your table, but that’s the problem.

If you don’t create something, then you won’t have enough money to support yourself!

So now you’re pressured to create because it’s life or death.

Wow, when did creating become such a burden?

Recall Your Best Creative Moments

Wouldn’t you agree, though, that the best pieces of art that you’ve done—a song, a video, a blog post or essay, or illustration—came from a place of freedom and uninhibited imagination?

Try to recall those times that you truly enjoyed creating, and write down what it felt like.

What was the weather like? What were you going through? What were you listening to? How was your spiritual state then?

Try to recall as much as you can about it, and you might find some insights that are helpful and specific to you.

I know that I cannot preach one way that will work for all of us, but I will share this principle that I think you can start with in figuring out the best way to set yourself free from this frustrating time in your creative journey.

Where Freedom Comes From

📖 Galatians 5:1 It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.

The opposite of freedom is bondage and slavery. So if you don’t feel free to create, then there is most likely a kind of “slavery” going on in your spirit that is keeping you from creating.

Some things that can hold you back are:

• perfectionism

• perceived expectations from others

• being distracted and pressured by what others are doing

• a hurtful criticism in the past

• fear of criticism

• fear of judgment

• not feeling inspired

• too high standards for yourself

There are many more, but I invite you to pause here and try to ask yourself, off the top of your head, what’s keeping you from creating right now?

Be Free from Perfectionism

📖 John 8:32 And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.

Based on my experience, the answer is usually feeling pressured to create something good, or just being perfectionistic.

But there’s only one Person I know who can create perfect things: God.

What we create is a reflection of who we are. You can’t really fake it.

And so when God creates something, it will surely be perfect. Why? Because God is perfect.

So what about you, my friend? Are you, by any chance, perfect like God?

If you are, then I can’t really blame you for wanting to be perfectionistic! Go ahead and do it!

But that’s not the case for me and most other people. I am not perfect.

In fact, I am broken, weak, and sinful.

But the advantage I have is that I embrace this weakness, so that Christ’s power may rest upon me (2 Cor 12:19).

Have you embraced the truth of who you are, instead of the illusion of who you wish people will see you as?

If you know and accept the truth of who you are, and moreover, embrace the identity that you have in Christ, then I think it will be easier for you to overcome your creative block.

For the truth will set you free.

How To Be Free from Creative Block

📖 Galatians 5:13 For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.

I hope you see here that my goal isn’t to help you to create right now.

Rather, my goal is to help you look inward a little bit more, that you might discern what is truly best, in the long run, for your spiritual health, which creativity, I believe, is largely affected by.

Tip #1: Rest

First off, it might be possible that God is the One keeping you from creating this season.

This has happened to me before, especially when I’ve started to idolize music. Sometimes the creative block is God-appointed.

Or you might just be going through a lot in life right now.

Whatever the case, pray and consider that maybe the Lord is calling you to rest for this season. And I highly recommend that you accept it.

This is not preventing you from creating. Rather it is preparing you to create better in the future.

You will thank yourself someday for allowing yourself to recharge spiritually.

Tip #2: Fast from Social Media

Have you been spending too much time on social media? Then perhaps this is stifling your creative freedom, if you feel like you have to copy everyone else.

Like we said, creativity is an expression of yourself. But if you are bombarded with what everyone else is doing (and they’re also just copying others anyway), then you will struggle with expressing who you really are.

Trust me, it’s not worth it to sacrifice your integrity, in any area of life.

Consider fasting from social media. Pray for how long God might want you to do it. It could be a day, 3 days, a week, or if you’re working on a big creative project, it can be up to a month.

Whatever it is, start by logging out and deleting those apps.

The peace will be satisfying.

Tip #3: Eliminate Lesser Priorities

Sometimes, the smaller tasks are eating up our attention and energy, and we might push aside our time to create.

If that’s you, especially if art is your full-time job like mine, maybe it’s time to consider eliminating the “noisy” work.

There are lots of tasks that don’t really move the needle, but it’s easy to do them so you feel productive.

Make them the last thing you do, delegate, or even just eliminate them altogether.

Consider allotting a day dedicated to creating, and allocating a day later in the week for all the smaller admin tasks instead.

Tip #4: Be Content

Sometimes the creative block is caused by a fear of lack, especially if you do art full-time.

If this is you, listen:

📖 Hebrews 13:5 (AMP) Let your character [your moral essence, your inner nature] be free from the love of money [shun greed—be financially ethical], being content with what you have; for He has said, “I will never [under any circumstances] desert you [nor give you up nor leave you without support, nor will I in any degree leave you helpless], nor will I forsake or  let you down or relax My hold on you [assuredly not]!”

Did you read that? Do you see how God is dead serious about providing for you and never leaving you to lack what you need?

I encourage you to meditate on this for a few days, and live your life as if you truly believed this.

What would you do if you truly believed that God will never leave you nor forsake you?

God wants to set you free from this fear.

And I bet that if you truly take this to heart, you will not only experience freedom from your creative block, but also freedom in other aspects of your life.

Tip #5: Create Trash

Finally, create trash. Yes.

The eloquent way to describe us as humans is that we are sinful, broken, weak and wicked.

The street talk is that we are trash.

So if our creations reflect who we are, then be free to create trash!

Just like how you would let an old faucet run for a while so the dirty tap water comes out first before the clean water flows, so will we get past the creative block by getting the trashy ideas out of our system.

It can only get better from there.

You could also see this as a sort of warm up.

Like an athlete that needs to warm up before a game, you can’t expect yourself to perform excellently all the time. Don’t be so arrogant.

When I lose my momentum, I usually like to set aside a day or two just to create freely, with no obligation to share what I create. No big projects, just have fun with God in our secret place.

That usually gets me back on track, and then I can pick up where I left off with major projects.

Happy creating!

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