Chaos and Creativity
By: Kern Carter
Tags: Social, Research, Creative Writing, Creativity, Anxiety

Our ability to create through extreme experiences

Image by Agsandrew

Last week, I didn’t leave my apartment at all for four straight days. Not to go grocery shopping, not to the convenience store, not to go for a walk. Nothing. For someone like me who gets claustrophobic at the thought of being confined in any manner, four days is a long time.

On the fifth day, my daughter went into my closet, picked out an outfit and told me to get dressed. We strolled around our neighbourhood taking pictures on her iPhone and a disposal camera she had recently bought. We were outside for less than an hour, but that’s all it took to help inspire some ideas I could write about.

Our short time outside also made me reflect on how as writers, our content is so connected to our experiences. The time we spend browsing our local bookstores, the few minutes we spend in line shopping or the hour we spend sitting at our favourite cafe. COVID has eliminated or severely changed the nature of these micro-experiences. The everyday interactions that we would subconsciously catalogue in our minds that somehow seep into our work have been taken away from us during this pandemic.

In a study published in the Journal of Pedagogy and Psychology, author Daiga Kalēja-Gasparoviča says that,

“Contemporary conditions determine a relationship between the quality of individual’s life and individually developed creative abilities: the ability to adapt to extraordinary situations and circumstances of life.”

Kalēja-Gasparoviča theorizes that our capacity to create is directly connected to the conditions we’re asked to create within. Right now, it would be fair to say that the current conditions are extreme. The pandemic has kept us indoors, socially distanced from our friends and families with a yet immeasurable impact on our physiological and mental health.

In addition to the conditions caused by the pandemic, we are also experiencing a cultural shift, particularly in the western world, where we actively trying to dismantle, or at the very least reimagine, many of the systems that have oppressed, marginalized, and hindered the growth, lives and livelihoods of several communities. Education, capitalism, our system of government and policing; each of these are just a few of the examples of systems that are under scrutiny and in desperate need of upgrading.

These are also systems contributing to the way we creatives experience our daily lives. The tension that arises when trying to break communal cycles of thought, particularly when there is heavy pushback, weighs on our minds and impresses itself on our creations. This impact may vary from person to person, but its presence is undeniable.

Creativity elevates our consciousness

In speaking to other writers and artists, there seems to be some diversion in how they’ve processed the experiences of the past year. Some have kept going by necessity. Creating is how they earn their living and even though they admit to feeling a consistent strain to keep producing, stopping would put a halt to their income, which they’re not willing to bear.

Other creators, the ones who don’t depend on or expect their art to pay their bills, have withdrawn or reframed their messaging. They’ve either taken long pauses in between creations or reflected on what they were creating and decided to go in a different direction. The conditions spawned by the pandemic forced them to realize that they have an obligation to create closer to their truth, a truth that always was but could more readily be dismissed prior to the pandemic and recent social awakening.

Those creatives can no longer push their purpose to the pits of their stomach. They’ve been emboldened to draw a line in the sand without regard for anyone who stands on the other side. The conditions have made them courageous.

In his conclusion, Kalēja-Gasparoviča says:

“Studies and theories in psychology confirm that in order to exist productively in the changeability and dynamics of today’s world, the individual is helped by the ability to adapt together with the potential for a non-traditional approach and originality. Thereby, creativity becomes significant in individual’s development, self-awareness and quality of life.”

Imagine that kind of power. The power to elevate our self-awareness simply by engaging in an action that we’re genuinely passionate about and can’t resist its calling. We are blessed to be creators. Our sensitivity to the pulse of the world makes us unique. Our ability to feel that energy and transform it into something tangible that others can feel makes us invaluable. Accept that power, but understand how it is impacted by the forces around you.