Navigating the Storm - A Creative Artist's Guide to Managing Stress and Anxiety
“It’s scary in the dark, but what’s more scary to me is denying and suppressing what lurks beneath the surface.”
The artist Emma Haddow (who gave us this quote) will have her own thoughts about this, but what is it that lurks beneath the dark for you? Maybe you feel overwhelmed by deadlines, expectations, or criticism. Maybe you struggle with self-doubt, perfectionism, or imposter syndrome. Maybe you worry about your finances, your future, or your artistic vision. Whatever the cause, stress affects our mental and physical health, as well as our creativity and productivity.
What’s really important to keep in mind is that feeling anxious is a normal response to situations we consider challenging or threatening. It’s part of our survival mechanism, and it helps us cope (the good old fight-or-flight response). Only when stress and anxiety become chronic, they begin to interfere with our well-being and performance.
If you want to dive deeper into the neurological and hormonal workings of stress (especially if you are a performing arts teacher), I have a course for you:
And it probably comes as no surprise that creative artists are especially prone to stress because they often face high levels of pressure, uncertainty, and competition in their work. Add sensitivity, empathy and imagination into the mix, and you have a recipe for high vulnerability.
The musicians and performers amongst us often worry about performing live (to the extent that we suffer with performance anxiety), not feeling inspired to create original works, finding an audience and dealing with criticism. We feel anxious about auditioning and fret over forgetting our lines.
Visual artists might stress over finding and developing their style, selling their work, or expressing their vision.
Writers dread writer's block, find their works plagiarised, are rejected by publishers or feel crushed by the editing process.
And each and every single one of us has probably, at least at some point in our lives, worried about being able to make a living.
Having said all of this: Everyone experiences stress. And some of the myths surrounding stress and anxiety are equally harmful to creative artists as they are to everyone else.
The Myth
Common Myths or Tropes Related to How Artists Experience Stress and Anxiety
Where to begin? I’d like to pull stress and anxiety apart a bit since they aren’t one and the same (that’s the first myth right there).
Myth: Anxiety is the same as feeling stressed
Fact: Stress is a normal response to a challenging or threatening situation, such as a deadline, an exam or a conflict. Stress can be positive or negative, depending on how you perceive and cope with it. Stress can also be acute or chronic, depending on how long it lasts.
Anxiety, on the other hand, is a reaction to a situation that is not objectively dangerous or harmful. Anxiety can be triggered by stress, but it can also occur without any apparent reason. Anxiety can cause physical symptoms, such as palpitations or a racing heart, sweating, trembling, nausea or dizziness. Anxiety can also cause psychological symptoms like worry, fear, panic, nervousness or dread.123
Myth: Stress is good for creativity and performance
It’s unfortunately not straightforward. While some stress can motivate us to work harder or faster, too much stress can impair our cognitive functions, lower our mood, and reduce our creativity. Too much stress can also interfere with our ability to focus, generate ideas, or take risks. Research has shown that creativity is higher among people with certain psychological traits, such as openness to experience, curiosity, and resilience, rather than always being on the edge of our seats (be that due to eustress or distress).4
As a psychotherapist, I also have a very particular opinion about a very particular myth: The myth that everybody experiences and responds the same way to stress. Stress is personal and subjective. What may be stressful for one person may not bother another person at all. People have different ways of coping with stress, depending on their personality, values, beliefs, skills and resources. There is no one-size-fits-all solution for stress management. You need to find what works best for you and your needs. This is why I always have a disclaimer at the bottom of my emails - individual advice and therapy is exactly that - individual. A newsletter or podcast can make you think and explore, but it can never replace real life mental health care.
And while we are talking about individuality: Just because you don’t show any obvious symptoms of stress doesn’t mean it’s not present. Stress can have subtle or delayed effects that may not be noticeable right away. For example, stress can weaken your immune system, increase your blood pressure, affect your digestion, disrupt your sleep, impair your memory and concentration, and increase your risk of chronic disease. Therefore, it is important to monitor your stress levels and take action before it becomes overwhelming or harmful. Don’t think you have to grin and bear it until you are already in knee-deep.
Let’s have a closer look at anxiety. Feeling anxious is a normal and natural emotion that everyone experiences from time to time. However, for some people, anxiety can become persistent and interfere with their daily life. Anxiety disorders are among the most common mental health conditions, affecting millions of people worldwide. No wonder then there are also many myths and misconceptions about anxiety that can prevent people from seeking help or understanding their condition. Let’s get to debunking some of them.
Myth: Anxiety isn't a real illness and “just in your head”
Fact: Anxiety is a legitimate, diagnosable condition that can have serious consequences if left untreated. Anxiety disorders are not about “feeling occasionally stressed or worried”. They are characterised by excessive and irrational fear or nervousness that lasts for at least six months and causes significant distress or impairment in various areas of life. Anxiety disorders can affect anyone, regardless of age, gender, culture or background (although there are demographic differences in frequency, but that’d lead too far in a post like this. If you have any questions - the chat is open to all subscribers).
So if you commonly experience feelings of anxiety and they have been lasting for quite a while, don’t be embarrassed to ask for help in hopes these feelings will just resolve on their own. Anxiety symptoms that are persistent usually require treatment. It’s nothing you can just "snap yourself out of" (and people who try to “help” by saying this are honestly the bane of my life). Anxiety is often linked to underlying factors, such as genetics, personality, life events, coping skills or cognitive styles. Without treatment, anxiety disorders can worsen over time and lead to other problems such as depression, substance abuse, physical health issues or social isolation.
One of the most insidious things about anxiety is that it makes us avoid whatever we fear. It can make us avoid any remotely stressful situation because we think that way, we might keep anxiety attacks at bay (and that’s, at least in a roundabout way, a myth in its own right). The problem is that avoidance tends to make anxiety worse in the long run - all the more reason to seek out help: Avoiding the trigger of anxiety may provide temporary relief, but it can also reinforce the fear and make it harder to overcome in the long run.
All of the above myths create unrealistic expectations and standards for yourself and your artistic work, and they prevent you from seeking the help and resources you need to cope.
The Exploration
How to manage stress and anxiety as an artist
Well, you probably don’t manage it any differently from everyone else who is stressed or anxious, but the challenges artists face can feel unique in certain ways, and it might often seem as if there is less of a way out.
Acknowledge your feelings: Don't ignore or suppress feeling stressed or anxious. These feelings are valid and can be normal reactions to your situation. Try to identify the sources and triggers of your stress (like deadlines, high expectations, competition, or criticism), and how they affect you physically, mentally, and emotionally. Stress and anxiety can manifest in different ways, such as physical symptoms (e.g. headaches, insomnia, fatigue), emotional symptoms (e.g. irritability, sadness, fear), cognitive symptoms (e.g. negative thoughts, self-doubt, perfectionism), and behavioural symptoms (e.g. procrastination, avoidance, substance abuse).
Find ways to express your feelings, such as talking to someone you trust, writing a journal, or creating art (and if your art is what stresses you out, it is okay to step back for a while, or to find a different way of creative expression - e.g. writing if you are a musician, painting if you are a writer…). All of these will help you release tension, gain perspective, and process your emotions.
Take care of your basic needs, such as eating well, sleeping enough, exercising regularly, and connecting with others, This might sound really trite, but you’d be surprised how often I speak to clients who have lost these most basic connections to themselves (and those around them). Taking care of our basic needs can reduce stress hormones, hence improves our mood, hence enhances our creative spark.
Seek support, whether that’s from family/friends or professionals. Don't isolate yourself or suffer in silence. I know I’m banging on about this in literally every post I write, but I can’t stress enough how important it is (and I also know that we often don’t feel like it, for a multitude of reasons). Reach out to your friends, family, colleagues, mentors, or other artists who understand what you are going through. Support can help you feel less alone, more connected, and more resilient. If your anxiety is severe or persistent, don't hesitate to seek professional help. And don’t forget that it doesn’t have to get bad first before you seek out professional help. The sooner, the better. We see our GP to get regular check-ups - why do we feel so reluctant to reach out to a mental health professional when stress or anxiety get to us?
Professional support will help you to develop coping skills to deal with stress and anxiety in the moment. What helps is highly individual and beyond the scope of a newsletter, but there are so many ways to help, and one of them will be right for you, whether it’s mindfulness-based, uses cognitive restructuring/reframing, or is rooted in somatic work.
You can also get support with processes related to your creative work, like setting realistic and achievable goals. Some of us are “big picture people” who need a bit of help with learning to break down our projects into smaller and more manageable tasks, prioritising what is important, and celebrating our progress.
Questions for exploration
As usual, I will finish this post with questions you can (or not) ask yourself for a bit of insight. If you feel brave, or would just like to share what you found out with other likeminded people, share them in our chat or in the comments.
How do you currently cope with stress and anxiety?
What are the main sources of stress or anxiety for you as a creative artist?
What are some myths or tropes that you have encountered or believed about how stress and anxiety affect creative artists?
How do you balance your creative work with your personal life?
What are some goals that you have for yourself as a creative artist?
Who are some of the artists that inspire you or support you in your creative journey?
What are some of the benefits of creating art for your mental health?
How do you balance your passion for your art with your well-being?
And that’s it for this week. Join me again in a fortnight, when we will talk about the role of creativity and art in mental health recovery. If you’d like to hear from me next week and explore questions related to mental health and creativity via storytelling: We’ll be talking about #1 of Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman (“Sleep of the Just”) over at Shadow Truths.
To receive new posts about The Sandman: Shadow Truths, switch on the section via your settings after you have subscribed to The Creative Cure (it’s free). You can also do this via the account settings on the Newsletter tab on my page.
Up until then,
Petra
Anxiety and Depression Association of America). Myths and Misconceptions About Anxiety | Anxiety and Depression Association of America, ADAA. https://adaa.org/understanding-anxiety/myth-conceptions.
Harvard Health Publishing. (2020). Recognizing and easing the physical symptoms of anxiety. https://www.health.harvard.edu/mind-and-mood/recognizing-and-easing-the-physical-symptoms-of-anxiety
National Institute of Mental Health. NIMH » Anxiety Disorders. https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/anxiety-disorders/index.shtml#part_145336
Li, W., Li, X., Huang, L., Kong, X., Yang, W., Wei, D., Li, J., Cheng, H., Zhang, Q., Qiu, J., & Liu, J. (2015). Brain structure links trait creativity to openness to experience. Social cognitive and affective neuroscience, 10(2), 191–198. https://doi.org/10.1093/scan/nsu041