How Are People Coping With Mind Blocking In The Current Situation?

Design

By Drishti Agarwal

6 min read

Apr 1, 2024

How are people coping with mind blocking inthe current situation

Doesn’t it feel surreal to think that I make my living through my hobbies and my creativity on a daily basis? Doesn’t it feel great to realize that you can illustrate, photograph, and paint what you want? However, recently, a recurring issue has been quite often witnessed which can take a toll on any one of our mental or physical health in the near future. Yes, it is that perilous and I’m still figuring out how to navigate the root cause of it. With whatever I have discovered about it, I can deduce that creative block is the worst enemy of any person.

I would like to share my own personal experience when I was assigned to create an advertorial for IIC and I was struck and couldn’t think of how to design as I have designed it multiple times and it was not coming the way how my boss wanted it to be so on the weekend I have watched a movie and had a me-time. I created a nice vibe for myself and started designing the advertorial the next day I went for a drive and came back and started working on the advertorial and on Monday I showed it to my boss and he was happy that I came up with what he wanted. These little breaks have helped me a lot in creating what I wanted.

Everyone has their own mood and their own way of coming out from it, so we can only suggest to them what they can do, but it really matters what they really like to do, if someone likes to sleep and that is helping them that is fine let them do.

One more thing which I felt is lacking in the lockdown while working from home is communication with people. For the past year, we have already come across the feeling of being caged more than often and now the creative block makes it even more difficult to cope. People have been a victim of the same and seen complaining things like -- “I’m struggling to get ideas & confidence'' “I can’t focus, it’s hard to know what I really want” and “there’s no motivation, I’m feeling numb”, etc.

Does it even sound similar to you as well? Well, then there are the chances that you’re facing a creative block. Thus here are a few things outlined that can help you understand it better. On my journey of navigation to the root cause of mind blocking, I conducted an interview with people from creative backgrounds and got to know about the few common causes of creative block found in people. Some of them are listed below:

Stress
Excessive workload
Personal problems
Bipolar disorder
Deadlines
Repetitive work

In my interview with Vidhi Vaid, a Ui Ux designer, she says “following the same routine day and night causes her mind to block” and she added that we need to observe more and explore ourselves with new hobbies. She also talked about her experience when she was assigned to design a website and all she could do at that moment was create something dreadful because she was suffering from a creative block. However, at that time, she decided to take a break from work and watch a movie or listen to her favorite songs, and voila! The next morning when she got back to work after her break, she was all energetic and boosted, and guess what? She designed a perfect website with fresh ideas and much ease.

In another interview with Shubhi Darbari, an ex-fashion stylist, she shared her experience where a creative block caused her to leave her full-time job and start her own business. In her own words, she said, “trust me, all you need is a break to keep the creative juice flowing”.

While the above designers chose to take a break from the work and spend time on their hobbies in their withdrawal process, we also came across some designers like Varalika Varma, a graphic designer, and stylist who still follow the old way of overcoming mind blocking by observing her surroundings and taking inspiration from them. She shared with me how she overcame her creative block when she was in college and how her surroundings helped her in solving her issue.

After interviewing these people of similar industries but different designations and who go through these things frequently, I came to a conclusion that it can happen to anyone from the creative field or a non-creative place mind blocking can happen at any time, and at any place. It’s okay to not be okay. Don’t resist feeling “bad” just because it seems like you’re the only one who feels lonely, or lost, or unmotivated but clearly, you’re not the only one. But trust me, it’s okay to have a creative block on some days, it’s okay to take a break from work on some days and it’s also absolutely to feel like doing nothing on some days. But if you want to try to overcome mind block and keep your creative juices flowing, here are few things outlined that you can follow:

Write: Pen down your feelings in any form. I am sure you will feel better.

Call a friend: You can discuss your feelings with a friend or family member and let them know what you want to do and not be able to do because of mind-blocking. It will surely help you to reduce your stress and irritation.
Confession: If you are having any kind of trouble in your work, confess your thoughts and feelings to the higher authority of your organization. They know much better than you how to handle this situation and they will come up with effective solutions.
Painting: Believe me, painting is a really good stress buster. Painting does not require you to be perfect. All you have to do is just splash some colors on a plain canvas and start having fun.
Movies or Series: You can binge-watch your favorite movies or series. You can also watch some inspirational movies or ted talks that might help you bring back your energy and your mind will also be fully charged.
Do-It-Yourself: Sit with your family and do some DIY together. Through this, you will feel productive and fun.
Social Activities: You can take part in online activities which help a lot in building connections. These activities also help us to get to know the perspective of other people regarding particular artwork or any other thing.
Quotes: motivational quotes and a note from your favorite novel or a book can act as medicine - there's a book named Creative Block it has ideas and advice on how to come out from the mind block.

So don’t be too hard on yourself and I hope that this article could help in some or another way. Take care of yourself and make your mental health a priority to get through these tough times when you feel blocked.

If you feel like sharing your issue of mental block with us, you can reach out to us anytime. Let us solve this problem together because we’ll be more than happy to help you!

About the Author

Drishti Agarwal
Visual Communication Designer