Embracing Creativity: Feeling stuck or stifled?
- Lauren Joy
- Feb 19
- 3 min read
Updated: Apr 15
What's covered: Overcoming Fear, Self-Doubt & Creative Procrastination; Understanding Creative Blockages; The Importance of Creativity in Enhancing Resilience
I really resisted reading this book: The House That Joy Built by Holly Ringland.
It sat bedside, looking up at me with its smiling cover of rainbow colours and flowers, willing me to pick it up.
Yet, I didn't...until now. (More about that later.)
And what a joyous and empowering ride of a read it is!
This book, in essence, is all about "the pleasure and power of giving ourselves permission to create" in the face of self-doubt, procrastination and fear...
Fear of being vulnerable,
fear of opening ourselves up to criticism and judgement from others,
fear of not being good enough.
We're ALL creative!
First of all, let's break free of creative clichés.
You don't need to be an artist who wields a paintbrush, walks the stage, sings into a microphone or passionately expresses themself through the pen or the camera lens.
Human beings are born to create, and this comes in many shapes, forms and expressions.
From the dinner you make to the clothes you wear, from the way you decorate your home to the organization of your playlists, it's all creative.
Yet so many people suppress, deny, judge, belittle or even question their ability - and their right - to express and prioritize their creativity.
Creative resistance (aka blocks!)
What was my resistance to reading this book, The House That Joy Built?
I had that sixth sense it was going to light a fire up my creative butt, and there was a part of me that didn't want to fully acknowledge that yet.
Because once acknowledged, I knew I'd need to take action and make some different life choices.
My personal feelings around creative unwillingness...
What we hold closest to our hearts is what we're most afraid and reluctant to share with the world.
It's vulnerable, it's scary, it's unknown...Yet, not sharing and not creating diminishes the full expression of who we are.
It's like living with a part of yourself permanently stuck in a cupboard; hidden from public view, secretly visited, simultaneously filled with glowing possibility, yet silenced with bullying fear.
Unlocking (and unblocking!) your creativity is as exposing as it is strengthening, it's as joyous as it is potentially painful, and it's as necessary as it is important - for you and the world.
The world needs your kind of creative beauty
Why should we bother creating when there is so much grief, despair, suffering and tragedy in the world?
This is how Holly Ringland responds to that question in her book, The House That Joy Built:
"When we choose to create in the face of fear, we inspire others to choose their own creativity over fear too. Giving ourselves permission to answer what calls to our hearts creates an energy that catches. Like fire."
Creativity strengthens human resilience
It's widely known and supported that creativity is critical to child development.
What's lesser accepted and encouraged is that creativity is equally important to adult resilience: enhancing mental health, promoting emotional regulation and offering tangible feelings of presence, pleasure and peace, which also happen to be hallmarks of mindfulness.
Has reading this blog fuelled your creative sparks, however big, however small?
I'd love to know how you like to creatively express yourself and what it is you'd like to prioritize doing, being or creating.
Email me hello@laurenjoywilson.com so I can cheer you on! :-)
For more information about how holistic counselling (available in Cairns and online) can enhance, strengthen and unblock your creativity, call or text me on 0401 924 156.
Keep listening to your body and trusting your wise self,
Lauren x
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