The Importance of Creative Endeavors

 As life in our society becomes more and more stressful these days, the human body becomes an anxious being. I have seem countless acquaintances and loved ones slip into an anxious disfunction and lose themselves in the process by being overwhelmed with stress. I have seen myself do this many times, and find myself focusing on the wrong things in life and procrastinating what really needs my attention. I lose myself in obsessive compulsions and begin organizing a cabinet, when I really should be making phone calls for work or obsessing about minor details in mundane things that consume me. This anxious energy comes from my creative process being stifled and becomes a viscous cycle that stifles my creative process even further.

    With the recent opposition of planetary influences, I have seen many people I know get caught up in this cycle too. I see bright, creative individuals stop creating, and get stuck, as they anxiously over-analyze their relationships and destroy them, or form new OCDs like hoarding, nervous ticks, extreme dieting, and compulsive-exercising.

     What I notice in all of us when this happens, is that we are all going through something huge in our lives, and to divert our attention from what is really stressful to deal with, we develop these compulsions to feel as if we are accomplishing something more. It gives us a false sense of control and security when we focus on these attainable and self-fulfilling goals. We might be accomplished, as we end up with really clean houses or super skinny, or with really cluttered spaces full of too much stuff.  What we are doing though, is avoiding, and are creating this cycle of procrastination fueled by and fueling anxiety.

Keeping myself solvent and sane by creating art.

     However, when we put this energy towards creative tasks or creative lifestyles, this anxiety is not fed, but is energy converted. This energy becomes something that is put into form that has purpose and not wasted on vain pursuits. Not everyone has this creative flow, as some people are good in non-creative environments and can thrive sorting mail daily or cutting lawns, but for those of us who love to create, it is essential to utilize this energy that we are blessed with and not waste it.

     What I have discovered about myself is that I have to prioritize creativity in my life. If I find myself devoting my time to something that requires no creativity, I get anxious. I need to create all of the time. Whether I am creating wonderful dishes to feed my family, writing poetry and fiction, or having the creative career that I have, I need that to keep solvent and sane! If I don't, I end up an anxious mess!