Creativity within the Maelstrom
Recently I’ve been dealing with a long string of high intensity projects. I’ve had to face down multiple challenges at the same time, challenges which have been extremely complex and required immense attention to detail. While juggling more than one of anything is hard, my biggest challenge has been that all my tasks require maintaining a high level of creativity in order to succeed. It’s been very difficult to handle so many high pressure tasks while at the same time maintaining a mental state conducive to creativity.
To handle everything being thrown at me, I’ve been spending more and more time working to optimize my thoughts. I realize I’m currently approaching mental and physical capacity with these projects, so any energy spent thinking about anything other than the tasks at hand would lead to failure. I’m cutting down on all excess thoughts and actions. Any thoughts not dedicated to solving these challenges is putting more barriers in my way.
It’s made me think back to the times I used to perform in operas. Between the clumsy costumes, the acting, and the singing, there was no time to think of the audience. You were juggling so many things that you’d fail if you ever stopped to think about how much pressure you were under. The only solution was to throw yourself so into your role that you were incapable of thinking about how the performance was actually going. All that extra energy not spent recursively thinking radiated outward and amplified everything. Not thinking about the performance lead to a more powerful musical experience.
It’s only been recently that I’ve realized how much those performances helped prepare me for the immensity of the challenges I now face. Performing taught me that pressure and stress are forces that come from within. You determine how present the “audience” is within your mind. Anything you do is as hard as you make it for yourself. And even though there is no physical stage, whatever life throws at you follows the same principles. Everything is a performance, and you control how much energy you devote to feeding your creative mind.
It’s a difficult task; it’s as hard as you want to make it for yourself.