Creativity is the cure.

Creativity is at the crux of it all.

That’s the big overarching lesson I’ve learned in my 20 years of counseling.

Let’s start with anxiety. Anxiety can be experienced in a number of ways, racing heart, sweaty palms, flushed skin, an impending sense of doom, and a flood of thoughts. The theme here is that everything is saying “RUN!!”. Your body and/or thoughts feel out of control, moving too fast, and supremely uncomfortable. This is by design, because the reality is that there are a lot of things in the world that threaten our physical existence.

Let’s break it down a little bit.

For discussion purposes, let’s use the word fear to label all the above symptoms in the face of a genuine threat (a swinging fist, a growling dog, a car careening toward the sidewalk, etc).

In contrast, anxiety exhibits those same symptoms but in reaction to a perceived future threat. It’s all imagination.

Imagination is incredibly powerful and useful in many circumstances. I think it’s good that my brain hears a revving engine and anticipates an out of control car coming toward me - it helps me scan for danger and take evasive action.

However, anxiety unchecked can become an internal danger in and of itself. Science has shown that we need cortisol and adrenaline in order to produce big bursts of energy to jump out of the way of that speeding car. Science also tells us that prolonged stress and chronically high cortisol levels cause damage to our physical bodies. Mental rehearsal of all the bad, scary, dangerous things actually rewires our brains so that it becomes more and more difficult to access peace, and joy.

Basically, letting our imagination run wild in a negative direction makes us sick both physically and emotionally.

The antidote? Positive creativity.

Honestly, even neutral creativity can be helpful.

For example, if I am thinking “What if everyone ignores me?”, my brain wants to fill in the blank.

Many people have this thought and they get locked into fear at the very first thought which is “then I will be alone.”

From a primitive biological perspective, being alone is a death sentence. So we all have this existential fear. But if we push past that fear to imagine what would happen next, there are a lot of other options.

1. I’ll die. Maybe true if you’re out in the wilderness, but if you’re in a community of any type, it’s unlikely that this is the next step.

2. I’ll feel lonely and sad. Okay - that’s possible, normal even. Then what?

3. I could try to start a conversation instead of waiting for people to approach me.

4. I could find a way to entertain myself.

The list goes on and on. Notice that none of these are overtly positive, they are just options. But this process of coming up with a list of options is creative. It changes the mental scenery, so instead of standing at the edge of a cliff, you are standing at a crossroads with choices before you.

The idea of creativity as a core component of emotional healing is one of the themes in my book The Spirit is in the Room.

Healing can start in a number of different ways:

1. Journaling can be helpful to identify the fearful thoughts that fuel your anxiety. It can also be a way to reinforce the choices you have made and the options before you.

2. Art can be helpful if you feel things deep in your body but don’t really have words to express or if you feel like you have talked through a situation and still feel stuck. I have a free guide on how to start an emotional painting process.

3. Join a group. The beauty of support groups and shared experiences is that you realize that you are not alone in your experience.

4. Engage in therapy if there are deep seated patterns that just won’t budge.