Creative Pressure is Crushing Me

I’ve been going through a creative block. As almost anyone who seeks to create in the world knows, there’s some times in life where its just not clicking and for me, the past few months have been frustrating, infuriating and every other word you can think of that expresses how annoying it is to not be able to do the things you love most.

Let’s take it back to late 2025, as I wrote about in my last blog post, life changed a lot, and ever since then, its has been a revolving door of emotions and states of being. I’m definitely not the type of person to take life too seriously but one thing I don’t play about are my feelings and something just hasn’t been feeling right within me when it comes to my creativity. I can’t even put a name to this feeling, but it has been sitting on my shoulder, whispering in my ear that something is off and my brain, once overflowing with ideas, aspirations and motivation to create has significantly slowed down and in some ways, stagnated. In place of that creativity, a familiar, overpowering need has taken priority: survival.

The world is on fire. Everything feels like it’s just getting worse and worse by the day. As a young person trying to find footing and purpose in the world, it feels like the current state of Earth is doing anything it can to work against that. I’m not going to list the ways in which the world is crumbling because I’m sure you know and feel this already. The worst thing about survival is that it wants to be the only thing you focus on, like a co-dependent partner, it becomes the centre of world and everything revolves around it, simultaneously holding you back while also keeping you safe.

Safety and security are beautiful feelings but I miss the chaos that comes with creativity. That feeling of having so many ideas that it overwhelms me, or coming off the high of a great interview where I’m so excited to go and edit so that I can relive it – I can’t get enough of it. So much so that I’m ready to give up comfortability for it, because nothing great was made by playing it safe. At the end of the day, it’s up to me to bring this feeling back into my life, to stop feeling held back by things I cannot control and open my mind and heart again. To allow my self to be inspired again, even if it’s against my rational thinking, it’s just helping grow my perspective whether it’s right for me or not.

A lot, if not all of the pressure I’ve been feeling is self-inflicted so the only solution can come from me. I’m tired of feeling guilty for not creating when it’s me that is making myself feel that way. I’m tired of being crushed so I simply refuse to be. I’ve decided to work through it. There’s an upside to this block is that it’s given me so much new perspective. Being in a new place, meeting other creatives and just experiencing life differently has given so much new inspiration that I’m started to shift that weight off my shoulder. It’s starting to click for me again and I couldn’t be more excited for what’s to come.

In a way, I’m grateful for the time I spent blocked, I needed that time to come out of tunnel vision and expand my world view. I also needed to adjust my mindset as it had admittedly become quite strict. The way I was thinking was hindering me. As a perfectionist, I’m constantly standing in my own way, my harshest critic, making excuses that ultimately stunt my creative growth. I’m learning to grow through mistakes these days, there’s always a way to continue moving, even if that means starting again, I’d rather do that than do nothing at all. The best thing to do to keep trying, to fail as many times as needed, and learn from every feeling that life throws my way.