do you get steamrolled with creativity

[Zoe Girl]

I have been blown over, rolled under a bus, etc. with my latest burst of creativity. I have to say it is rather painful actually. It is good that I have it, well lets be honest. I could not function without a level of creativity in my life. When the practical takes so much from me I really suffer. So I have been able to put aside others drama and my boyfriend has been outof town quite a bit so I am waking with complete stories in my head, ideas for painting and a painful realization of how little of this I can actually accomplish ( and a sneaking feeling that I am some sort of manic person in the end).

Okay I need to get food in the house, we have clean clothes again, and then I need to work!!!

[KayLR]

It all sounds good to me! Roll with it! How can creativity be bad? It's probably always there, you just put it on the backburner because of all life's demands.

[Zoe Girl]

Because I cannot type fast enough, I have to have a certain level of 'order' (read OCD-ness) to work (but I am ignoring it for now) and then I need a tremendous amount of food. So my kid better make those omelets he promised this morning, lol

[Dhiana]

Zoe Girl - This is perfectly normal. We have so many ideas there is no way any single person can complete them within their lifetime.

I've attached a copy of an email question my friend wrote to her Creativity Coach, Erik Maisel, about this same subject and then his response:
"I am fine with helping to support someone's dreams and perhaps fanciful goals. It's harder for me to realize that many things simply aren't possible due to time and space constraints. I listened to Eric's recent podcast on his new book about dealing with anxiety, and I appreciated the part where he mentioned that we must mourn the losses of the projects we won't be able to create. I've been untethered by a job these past few months, and I've felt all sorts of plans and ideas rush in. I feel sad that I'm simply one person and can't execute all of them.

Eric's thoughts:
Yes—these are things we must maturely mourn—and then continue as best we can, as the simple human being we are.

There are big dreams for our clients to hold but only human-sized things for them to do. There are NOTHING but human-sized things for human beings to do. One thing that distinguishes the productive person from the unproductive person is that she does those human-sized things more often. She writes five hundred words every day, rather than once a year. There is nothing “more talented” about that person--she is simply showing up more."

While I really enjoy creating in huge number of mediums I realized I needed to cut some of them out and focus on my favorite mediums if I was ever to actually COMPLETE a project. You're not alone in this, choose your human-sized ideas and keep working on them until you reach your goal =)
Dhiana

[mattj]

I am waking with complete stories in my head, ideas for painting and a painful realization of how little of this I can actually accomplish ( and a sneaking feeling that I am some sort of manic person in the end).


First, yes!

It sucks and it's exciting at the same time. I was just (finally!) diagnosed as Bipolar (NOS). The thing I was most afraid of is that I'd lose that wonderful feeling of supercharged insight. All the medication did was move it a little further back, allow me to sleep through the night and to actually make some more consistant progress on my ideas. I fought this hard and for such a long time. I finally got to the point where I realized that feeling good (and racing off to chase these ideas) wasn't something I wanted anymore. I want to make something of them and attend to my family now.

I still wake (at 2 or 3 in the morning) with complete stories in my head (or visions of sugar plumbs). I can go back to sleep now and that's waaay more important than I ever knew. Part of it is that I adjusted and learned to adapt to how I was for decades before I was diagnosed and medicated (professionally medicated, I did the DIY version for a looong time).

The way I think of it now is <metaphor> long hot baths slow the chatter in my brain and I tap into that vein of intense creativity. It's wonderful. It takes me away. I think of my bathtub as some sort of weird spaceship sometimes in warp drive blasting past all of these great ideas. And I worry that I'll never give those ideas the justice they deserve and it starts to make me sad. Then I think of the water in my tub, the H2O touching my skin and how some of it will cling to my skin, even when the bath is over. It's likely some of it will become part of my body and maybe, some of it will come out when I sit down to write </metaphor>.

[JaneV2.0]

I have millions of ideas and have been known to pine for my very own sweatshop (kidding!) full of people to carry them out. Unfortunately, they'll die with me. Oh well.

[Zoe Girl]

Thanks all., I have learned over the years that these bursts of creativity tend to encourage me to do EVERYTHING, so I puposely settle down and focus on my largest goals. Painting areas of the house would be nice but not my primary goal (especially since we rent). However writing has been a focus forever so I put my energy there instead. I have actually had times when I made a huge amount of progress, we will see. The practical stuff of life is really a lot to handle right now.