Daydreaming Is Killing My Creativity

[Gwenevere]

I mentioned this as a comment on someone else's blog.  Daydreaming is strangling the life out of my creativity.  I paint, I draw, I write, I cook, and I even used to sculpt.  The stories I write are so different from the daydreams I create.  The former is art (I'd like to think); the latter is soap opera.  It's junk food.  And when all you eat is junk food, all you crave is junk food.  You lose your energy, you become sluggish, you know you need to eat some asparagus, but instead you devour m&ms.  You eat m&ms until you're at the point where you don't even want to eat them anymore, but you keep eating them anyway because you don't want anything else and you don't know how not to eat. 

I don't write anymore.  Maybe once a week I come up with a few sentences.  Once a week I may add something to a canvas I began painting months ago.  If I actually created as much as I daydreamed, can you imagine how much tangible work I would have produced by now?  

Art takes work.  It takes careful thought.  It takes ignoring that dreadful inner-critic that says, "This is horrible and you're no good."  Daydreaming, for me, doesn't take much careful thought.  It's fun thought.  It's all the fun of writing without the anguish, without the struggle.  If the critic says, "This daydream is stupid," then I either just say, "So what?  It's just a daydream," or a tweak it or make a new one, and keep beginning, beginning, beginning, with no finish.  No product.  

I think it's a mistake to equate daydreaming with creativity.  Daydreaming is creativity's cradle, creativity's training wheels.  A creativity that only daydreams is a creativity that is stunted in its growth, and that cries out to be more than it is.  

[Jessi]

I completely understand. I have the same painting on my easel since 2010. For a while it was delayed because I moved cross country and didn't have the space. But how many saturdays have I spent starting at a ceiling and not working on it.... I mean can I still call myself an artist if I don't complete anything? I find too that I have so many artistic desires from painting to writing to playing instruments that I get almost get scared to begin because what if I choose wrong. What if I focus diligently on one instrument when I could have been greater at another? This type of questioning for all my "grand ideas" comes round to the same result... too many ideas so it's easier to never begin. Wasting time in my DD world just passes more time and I still have the same partial painting.... same dust on my saxophone... same empty journal. I discovered this site yesterday.... this is my first comment.... as a newbie to disscussing any of this... I'm going through some anxiety with not knowing what happens next for me... but I'm happy to have this site to seek discussions and advice. I'm gonna finish that painting... I'm going to make time to practice my sax. I'm going to stop being a "creative procrastinator" and be a "creative producer". That's my affirmation to myself. I don't know yet if I want to stop my DDs but I know I have to force myself to focus on my real creative pursuits if I want to accomplish something in life. I have often thought of my DDs as party of what makes me creative but it's now hindering it too. Keeping that perspective I hope will help me accomplish what I hope to and dream I can do. OK phew... acknowledging a problem and seeking a solution. Kind of emotional moment for me... feeling hopeful and anxious and unsettled and relieved all at once!

[greyartist]

I so agree! After MD  took hold of my mind I stopped all creative activites, painting, crafts, etc. I try to force myself but it is not as good as before. Stopped doing porttraits or planning new projects. It's like the MD fantasy sucks all my mind's creativity to keep itself going and I am left with nothing.

[FunAtmosphere]

You are so right. I spent 3 years daydreaming without creating a single thing.

But when I turned 15 2 months ago, I decided to start pushing myself to get my ideas out there, in writing, drawing and painting.

It was pretty hard at first, to stop daydreaming and to start creating but i finally got there in the end. :3

[Wish Upon A Wish]

I have not only noticed people try to say the same thing, but thought the same myself- only we couldn't figure it out exactly. We have our creative daydreams, only they often don't actually help us be creative?

And you've put it into words- well done you!

[Geingart]

You have written exactly what I had in mind, but i wasn't able to find  the correct words. 

[The lady]

Actually, I loved everything that you wrote. It describes how I feel about my MDD. I dont`t do art but I feel the same way, like I`m wasting my energy with "cheap soap opera" instead of working my creativity with my studies and profession. 

[The lady]

'This daydream is stupid," then I either just say, "So what?  It's just a daydream," or a tweak it or make a new one, and keep beginning, beginning, beginning, with no finish.  No product."  

Just loved what you wrote. You`ve noticed that daydreaming and productivity don`t match. Perfection. Hope you can go back on focusing on your art.

[Gwenevere]

Thanks for the comments.  To clarify, I think daydreaming is creative and is an important part of the creative process, but it isn't the sum total of creativity.  It's only a subset of creativity--the beginning, the cradle, the laboratory.  It's meant to spur you on to do something more, to create something that can be shared, to change something that you (via your daydreams) discovered needs to be changed, etc.  But, I get hooked on the daydreaming part.  (Granted, life is a little too confusing right now to really know how to do much more than dream that it were different.)

[goner]

Strange how your mind works opposite to mine.

[The1andonlyAbber]

My daydreaming sort of helps with my creativity because most of my ideas come from my daydream storyline. But it does kind of prevent me from coming up with ideas outside of said daydream storyline.