I have been pondering this phenomenon a few times before, but it struck me particularly through this difficult period of destruction and divorce: I am not able to write, not even able to imagine stories, when I am emotionally overwhelmed. As if all creative energy were then taken up by the need to deal with situations and break down emotions into manageable parts. The creativity and the imagination are then dead and dry, hibernating so to speak.
It always comes back, my stories and characters will never leave me, but they do hibernate when life becomes emotionally challenging. I still write when I am stressed, when I have no time at all, but I can’t write (not even edit) when the capacity for emotion is being taken up by life events. It’s fascinating, really.
I wonder how much emotions have to do with creativity and imagination, and I do believe they must be one of the vehicles for stories that are capable of gripping and in return emotionally touching readers.
How do others deal with this? Other writers? Readers? How do emotionally challenging times in your lives affect your ability to create and your imagination?
I definitely find it hard to write when I’m unsettled. Moving into a permanent home again seems to have cured that.
Definately!! I am a very calm, even tempered person, I handle stress well, cool under pressure, and I don’t let people get to me… except when it comes to those I love. When my emotions are involved, all I can do is just push through the situation ( my husband has PTSD, so there have been “situations”) as best I can while my mind is reeling and unfocused and afterward I feel completely drained. Literally exhausted, mentally & physically. How can emotional turmoil be worse to work through than physical trauma??