A creative is a person who primarily produces original content, in varying formats including but not limited to various types of art, writing, music, dance, graphics, photography, innovation, entrepreneurship, marketing, and the list goes on. I consider myself a creative in the areas of writing, music, entrepreneurship, marketing and more. There are environments that people like me thrive in and others that are so stressful we end up doing everything from taking blood pressure medication to scheduling additional therapy appointments. There are many, but today I’m going to focus on three. The following are three environments that are stressful for creatives:
Places where minutiae reigns
Minutiae refers to small, unimportant details. When serving in a place where small unimportant details are magnified to take up a tremendous amount of space and place, creatives feel like you might as well have tied them up and put them into a closet. It’s stifling to deal with what’s trifling. Antiquated policies and procedures are especially frustrating for creatives. We tend to ask why a lot, and this isn’t only unappreciated but usually taken as an offense.
Places with outdated structures
Creatives are most concerned with creating beautiful and important work and having space to do it. It is exhausting for creatives to deal with political maneuvering and structures that feel more like the military and less like a team. With their natural bent, they often see how the world could be if archaic structures were not so fortified. Creatives are dreamers and they often face the nightmare of obsolescent frameworks.
Places with archaic expectations
Creatives tend to believe that whether you get the work done at 3 am or 3 pm is inconsequential. The important thing is that the work gets done. Things like time clocks, dress codes or official office hours aren’t high on the creative’s list of importance. What is high on our list is turning out magnificent work that’s going to make people say things like, Wow! I’ve never seen anything like that before. Make no mistake, we are not lazy. We simply focus on things such as the actual work rather than where the work was done, or whether it was done morning, noon, or night. The work is everything to us, but the details around it, aren’t.
If you are a creative, what would you add to the list?
I feel like non creative people try to put creative people into a box… I detest being put into a box….. That to me brings on the worst kind of stress!
My Most Creative areas are in Dance, Praise Flags, and My writing, I have Alot of poetry,
I should look into doing a poetry book. And I have my life stories, thoughts, and testimonies I write about also.
I get the whole time/clock thing. Alot of my poems come to me in the middle of the night! Not great for sleeping, but oh well. LOL 😂.
I detest boxes as well. I don’t live in them, that’s for sure!
I am a creative. I would add noise to the list. Whatever that noise may be, external or internal,I need a quiet space within my head to create and a quiet, safe environment in which to do it. Police and ambulance sirens all day in the neighborhood do not give me a conducive space in which to create.
Yes, 100%. Solitude is one of the main ingredients a creative needs. I am LOST without it.
oh my goodness YES!!!! This is so true! These things sometimes becoming overwhelming for me!
I’m with you, sis.
Micromanagement.
Double standards.
2 people doing the same job, one gets praised the other reprimanded.
Mary M
Places with outdated structures. Boy does that hit a nerve with me today! I agree with Renee on micromanagement as well.
When I want to be creative I need enough time to not feel rushed. My mother used to ask me why I wanted to cut out a pattern to sew at 10 PM. I told her because I felt like it. I also don’t want to be interrupted. Interruptions are distractions that cause you to lose concentration. In addition to sewing since I was 11 yo, I like to play my violin or viola, make beaded jewelry, and do craft projects with my 8 yo granddaughter.