7 Types of Obstacles to Creativity
As I sat down to write this article—I got a creative block. My head started aching. My eyes glazed over, and I found myself staring out the window. As I looked over the list of 7 obstacles to creativity, my eyes meandered over to Burnout. I’d been working for seven days straight, upwards of 10 hours per day. My burnout was telling me to take a damn break. So, I did. The thing is, I didn’t even realise it was burnout until I walked away and started talking about the article I was writing with Dania. I was mumbling something to her about how funny I thought it was that I was feeling resistance to writing an article on obstacles to creativity, as I felt my own obstacle to creativity looming over me, when it hit me.
A block to creativity doesn’t always show up with a dramatic entrance—though it certainly can. Often, it sneaks up on you. It can be like a paper cut: You don’t even notice it—until you notice it.
An ancient Egyptian text called The Papyrus of Nesi-Amsu says:
I fashioned my mouth, and I uttered my own name as a word of power,
and thus I evolved myself… and I developed myself out of the primeval matter.¹
We’ve always known that names have power. Once you can name your blocks, that power diminishes. You understand what to focus on. You can begin to learn the ins and outs of the block. You can navigate it, negotiate it, hold it off… In other words, you have something to work with.
In this article, we’ll take a look at 7 common blocks to creativity, and how they show up. Without further hullabaloo, here they are!
Overwhelm
Burnout
Thoughts
Emotions
Practical
Cognitive
Demand avoidance
Overwhelm
Your mind or your emotions don’t have to be spinning out of control. They just have to be too active for you to connect to your creativity. Despite how much you may really want to be creative, it’s just not going to happen.
Burnout
We all know burnout. When it’s too much, it’s too much. Your spirit will rebel.
Thoughts
The classics: You’re not good enough. There’s no way you can do this. There’s no point in trying, there’s too much competition.
Emotions
These can come from anywhere. It’s the anniversary of a significant loss. You’re angry and you don’t know why. Something bad happened at work.
Practical
There’s just not enough time. Other things need to take priority right now.
Cognitive
This has to do with how your brain processes things best. There’s too much noise. It’s too bright. There isn’t enough noise (some neuro types need a little distraction!).
Demand avoidance
Demand avoidance is a fancy way of saying rebellion. In other words, you feel like you have to—so you adamantly don’t want to!
Getting Practical
There are all kinds of short-term tools you can use to deal with the 7 Obstacles. In fact, if you want to try that, we have a free PDF guide. If you’ve tried these appraoches, and you’re still getting nowhere—you may need to go deeper.
NOTES:
https://www.wisdomlib.org/various/book/egyptian-magic/d/doc6799.html