The Quarantine Creativity Shortage

When the world stops turning it should come as no surprise that there may be a shortage of some things we tend to take for granted on a non-global pandemic year. As a pre-COVID bread baker and breakfast burrito specialist, the shortage of flour and dry black beans was disappointing but wasn't as unexpected as the lull in creative inspiration. Everyone is out there with all of this free time to seize and fulfill some creative dream, but alas, motivation and inspiration hide inside the walls like a scared farm cat in an unfinished home. I was recently reflecting on a conversation with a friend about how we seem to write our best songs when we should be doing something else entirely. Maybe it's because we let an idea or feeling linger to a point they can no longer be ignored and need to be prioritized. Maybe it's because rejecting what you "should" be doing in the first place and embracing something you love instead that opens the colorful box of creative inspiration. Regardless of your philosophy, don't get down on yourself for lacking creative drive in these socially distant times.

According to Dr. Abraham Maslow, one of the most influential psychologists of the twentieth century, our "basic" and "physiological" needs such as job assurance, health, and the well being of our beloved, need to be fulfilled for us to reach our potential within "self fulfillment" needs like creativity and expression. In addition to the sudden uncertainty and break in routine, the absence of staying busy and active in the world is a significant contributing factor to this disruption. Creative inspiration is cultivated by the human experience, molded by connection, and polished by reflection. It's no wonder why the flow of inspiration has dried to a trickle as the world lay seemingly desolate for months. Exercising reasonable caution, we must continue to grow living connected, purposeful lives, soaking in every smile and ray of sun the world is willing to warm us with. 

"Growth must be chosen again and again; fear must be overcome again and again."  -Dr. Abraham Maslow