Creative freezing (aka writer’s block, creativity black hole, etc)

What happens when you freeze creatively? We’re not talking about procrastinating, and we’re definitely not talking about marinating. We’re talking about can’t-write, can’t-think, can’t-move-forwards, can’t-even-go-backwards freezing.

If you’re one of the half-of-a-half-dozen fans of this blog, you probably know I love me some good ol’ fashioned procrastination. Negative emotions get such a terrible rap, but they are like vitamins: not great on their own, but filled with the building blocks of what makes us healthy and strong and resilient. The one thing marination, procrastination and freezing have in common is that they are elongating time so that creativity can happen.

Marination

My favorite way of elongating time is marination. Sometimes all you need to get past a block or barrier is chronological time. Think of marination as working for a month straight on a project or idea, but you need to think it over first. You think you’re being unfocused or lazy, but you’re just not ready for layer #2 yet. The first 95% of the time is letting the project or idea steep in those … hmm … paying-attention herbs and, um, … picking-up-insights spices.

Procrastination

Procrastination is the negative use of elongating time. What are you avoiding? Why? Great! That’s information! When you procrastinate next, try this: Instead of beating yourself up, look for the ‘why’ of your procrastination. Procrastination leads to some negative feelings, sure, but it also leads to getting other work done, your toilet finally getting scrubbed, and sometimes some pretty good insights even. Or, you know, a TV binge works in a pinch.

Procrastinating vs freezing

Freezing is another animal entirely.

Freezing leads to … ice. Frozenness. Stuck. A black hole of creativity, where even anything nearby gets sucked in. You stop doing other creative projects, taking care of yourself, breathing even. You are the gazelle, and if you move, the lion will pounce and eat you. Freezing is often related to trauma, childhood pain, fear, shame, the worst of the worst.

Like procrastination, freezing also gives you the gift of information. But it’s wrapped in a punch to our very core.

Unfortunately, there are no ‘Here are ten tips to get past freezing in a jif!’ lists. Freezing is your body’s way of screaming STOP! Sure, we’ve all pushed ourselves through a freeze before, but was the result your best work?

If you tried to swim while you were frozen, it would be a mess. And you might literally break. An arm or a leg just cracking off, vintage cartoon-style.

Freezing requires thawing

Before you can swim, you need to thaw. Modern society is remarkably cruel when it comes to expectations, and we are no exceptions; we do it to ourselves. There’s a school of thought in psychology right now that believes laziness doesn’t exist. (In fact, an entire book Laziness Does Not Exist just came out in Jan 2021.) Whenever we’re ‘lazy’, there’s a complicated rabbit warren of reasons. It takes time to know those reasons, sometimes hours, sometimes decades.

Thawing requires warmth

Boiling = constant, chaotic, entropic movement. Freezing = stagnation. If you want to boil water, you wouldn’t start with ice cubes. You don’t expect a frozen pizza to magically heat up in a cold oven. Or even to heat up instantaneously in a hot oven. You understand that frozen things need to unfreeze first in order to warm up. Think of your stagnating creativity as the frozen pizza inside your brain’s freezer. And then the hot oven is … hmm … your own self-awareness.

If you were in a lake, freezing is when you’d need to set aside the diving weights for a buoy or life preserver. Or even some of those temporary inflatable water wings. What are your buoys? Make a list: Hugs, dancing, blankie mode, quiet time, friend time, Ben & Jerry’s, kicking the shit out of your instructor in muy thai boxing class … whatever helps you warm up first. A shockingly small number of great or even good things start out of desperation, abject fear, or terror. And, as we know before and after we’re in freezing mode, this too shall pass. But when we’re in freezing mode? You owe the world nothing.

While the oven’s warming, phone it in

Even if you literally owe the world something (a work assignment, homework, a performance), I’m giving you official, I-teach-creativity-for-a-living permission: feel free to phone the next one in while you’re in frozen mode. Get it done, but notice your body if you can. Where do you freeze? Your shoulders? Breathing? Your thoughts? What’s happening to your routines? Do you stop engaging in self-care and healthy eating? Or do you switch over to excess: over-eating, substances, not sleeping? And, if you’re not in frozen mode, create a different type of list: What is the difference between procrastinating and frozen mode for you?

The great thing about freezing: objects taken out of the freezer warm up fast. Add the teensiest bit of self-awareness, and they warm up even faster. You know those water weights? Now’s the time to put them on. Ignore the voices — internally or externally — to push yourself, as the most typical result is that you’ll just fall deeper into a freeze. Or, said otherwise, hand someone who’s underwater some weights, and they’ll just fall even deeper.

My least favorite advice for writer’s block is to tie yourself to the chair and ‘just do it.’ That ignores all of the trauma, terror, fear, shame, etc that’s pulling you towards the black hole. Even if you can just spare two minutes, take that time to acknowledge that this might be beyond procrastination and into freeze territory. Sometimes that’s all the melt it needs.