Is Creativity Exhausting?

[shakabrah]

I've always become tired and shot after creative projects and it always takes some time "recharging the batteries" as a result.If I create in small amounts it's somewhat do-able but when the huge creative projects happen I feel a part of me dying every time. My last just finished project really left me spent.....emotionally and mentally drained......Anyone else go through this?

[wodinlord]

Well, YES. Sorry, what was the question?Wodinlord

[mojobone]

Yeah, but it's a good tired.

[tedsingingfox]

For me, the drained and exhausted feeling is VERY short-lived, and I spend MUCH more time afterwards feeling energized and excited and hyper-ready to try again.How nice that we all aren't cut from the same cloth. And yet, we ALL come from the same places, emotionally, no matter how we deal with them.Oops. Sorry. That doesn't necessarily answer your posting the way you might have wanted. Sorry.

[ernstinen]

Yup! As a full-time composer (now writing for orchestra), I can only write for 5-6 hours max. When I start "thinking," I STOP!So I realized that I didn't have the temperament to be a film composer, writing 20 hrs./day for 3 weeks! Not in my DNA. Ern

[ggalen]

All I know is, that I am often so focused when I am songwriting/recording, my brain is working so intensely, that when I "hit the wall" after a several hours, I really am DONE for a good while. Sometimes a day or two.Like Ern, I could not do it for hours, day in day out.

[ibanez468]

Well when I first joined TAXI (back in September of 2007) I got my first real dose of burn out. I was at it every day. Then after several months, I could feel it starting to wear me down. I had never composed & focused on that many tunes at one time before in my life. And I never had deadlines either. So I definitely took some time to re-group, and get re-energized. It was a learning experience. I don't go so hard at it now, like I did before. I allow myself some time to breathe. Take in a movie, hang out with the fam, relax & unwind. Get some REAL sleep. I think in the beginning, I was just excited about the adventure. I've calmed down since, and realized that this is not gonna' happen fast at all. It's gonna take it's time, and so am I. I-468

[mazz]

Aug 14, 2008, 3:42pm, mojobone wrote:Yeah, but it's a good tired.I concur! It's a very good tired.Aside from that, when I'm done, I have something that goes way beyond anything I get from my day gig and paycheck: something I created from nothing that I'll be able to listen to for the rest of my life and may even generate income for me and my heirs for decades to come. That makes the effort even more worth it.Aside from the fact that I can't imagine not doing it.It's a good tired.Mazz

[kg]

I think I'm the complete opposite. I am unbelievably energized by my music-related projects. I think what can be draining sometimes is the writing process...that's the part that can go either way for me...depends on the subject matter.

[elischumann]

Aug 14, 2008, 12:34pm, shakabrah wrote:I've always become tired and shot after creative projects and it always takes some time "recharging the batteries" as a result.If I create in small amounts it's somewhat do-able but when the huge creative projects happen I feel a part of me dying every time. My last just finished project really left me spent.....emotionally and mentally drained......Anyone else go through this?For me it's like tired, relaxed and accomplished in the same time and it feels good!I also take brakes when I've done several projects but not in the last two weeks that I was on vacation from school.