Is the Opposite of Anxiety... Creativity?
And How Remembering Cheesecakes Can Save Us All
You know the feeling. You’re doing a task and it seems easy enough. But then someone puts a bit of pressure on it. Not much. You either get a grade, someone’s gonna use your work or maybe they are going to pay you. Suddenly, it’s as if your mind shuts down. When before you had the use of your whole toolkit, the hammer, the saw, the pliers, all of it, now suddenly the options seem so much more limited. It feels as if there is only a hammer left and everything starts to look like a nail.
Well, that’s what happens when a bit of social pressure and thus anxiety are added to a task. It kills the creativity.
But what if the opposite were also true? What if adding creativity to an anxious situation could open up our brains again?
Anxiety + Creativity = No Anxiety?
This is the idea Martha Beck had when she read about the research done with anxiety killing creativity.
The experiments were simple enough. Some people were asked to solve a simple problem. Some other people were paid 5$ to solve the same problem. And everyone in the second group just failed. Their brains shut down all of their creative problem-solving abilities and focused on the social pressure being applied. In a word: anxiety.
Fascinating, Martha thought. Does it work the other way around as well?
She then ran some experiments with herself and her clients and voila: it did! Getting in touch with our curious and creative selves left no more room for anxiety.
I’ve felt this personally, too. I think it’s why our brains turn to doodling when we are in the middle of a stressful phone call. It gets easier when we doodle, doesn’t it?
This has to do with how the different parts of our brains work. There are parts in our brains that control our curiosity and creativity (let’s call those the right hemisphere to make things easier. It’s not that simple in real life, but it works for this example). Then there are parts that try to control everything and make things simple and safe (let’s call those the left hemisphere). Sadly, those two parts of the brain can’t work simultaneously. You can either try to narrow your focus and control the situation or you can try to open up and find creative solutions.
So, how do we try and activate the parts that are more creative? And inhibit the parts that make us anxious and closed up?
Ready, Set, Create!
The simplest way to get creative is… to do creative activities. I know it sounds simplistic, but bear with me here.
Ideally it would be something creative that you already do. So that when you reach for that guitar, pen or brush, your brain already knows what’s up and shifts into the parts of your brain that have been previously primed for creative and curious thought.
It also helps if there is a bit of a format to whatever you are doing. Stages or rituals. Many folks prefer live model drawing. There’s a set time for every pose and the whole environment is primed for creativity. But any format works.
You could even try to do it as a preventative measure. Like writing or painting in the morning before tackling other tasks that might raise your anxiety levels.
But sometimes this isn’t an option or we’re already a bit too stressed to be able to (un)focus on our craft. What then, you ask. WHAT THEN?!
First, a deep breath. Because lucky for us, there are other things that help wake up the same part of the brain.
Grounding
There’s a tool used in managing anxiety called the 3-3-3 technique.
You focus on 3 things you can see, then on 3 things you can hear and then on moving 3 different body parts.
The parts of our brains that get anxious can’t focus on sensations like this, at least not on so many different ones at a time. This has the effect of grounding us in the present moment and not on whatever thing we’re anxious about (which is always in the future).
You can also add things from memory, like favourite smells or tastes. Or even swap out some things you can hear or see to your favourite sights or sounds. You’re brain can hardly tell the difference in this case. A remembered cheesecake is as good as a real cheesecake. (If only this were true all the time.)
These have the added benefit of being automatically associated with good emotions. Who doesn’t get a little bit happier when thinking about the taste of their favourite cake? The sound or sight of their favourite human laughing?
In Conclusion
There’s ample evidence that anxiety kills creativity. Why not the other way around?
The next time you’re starting to feel anxious, try to grab that guitar or paintbrush. Or if you’re too anxious already, try focusing on some sensations or pleasant memories of your favourite sensations. Play some tricks on your brain. Unfocus from the things that are causing anxiety. Get curious. Get creative.