I admit it. As a man, I have never given birth. But I have delivered over a thousand of my creative offspring. After delivery, I often suffer from creative postpartum depression. In fact, I recently delivered my first keynote speech and I’m in a funk right now. Hopefully, sharing some advice about this gloomy phenomenon will enlighten us both.
Why We Get Blue
Newton’s Third Law of Motion says that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. So, when we open ourselves to birth creative projects, expect a forthcoming contraction.
As creative professionals, we interrogate life and search for meaning. Many of us are highly sensitive. We notice and feel things deeply. We create to connect with our audience (and ourselves) on an emotional level. While sensitivity makes us good at what we do, it also makes us susceptible to depression.
What I’m referring to here is minor depression which may include symptoms like malaise, lack of enthusiasm, poor self esteem, feeling overwhelmed, social withdrawal and finding fault with everything and everyone.
What To Do
Acceptance – Embrace that post project depression is our body and mind’s way of conserving energy while giving us necessary feedback to make sure that we are sustainable. Eric Maisel, Ph.D. who wrote The Creative Person’s Path Through Depression writes “this is a valuable time for introspection, rest and renewal.” Occasionally, we have to get off the hamster wheel to assess what we learned, how we can improve and which Habitrail tube to travel down next.
Fitness – Even if we just want to lay on the coach and watch Star Wars 4, 5 and 6, get some exercise too. This helps regulate brain chemistry. “Almost every dimension of cognition improves from 30 minutes of aerobic exercise. The type of exercise doesn’t matter, and the boost lasts for at least two hours afterward,” according to John Medina, author of Brain Rules.
Diet – Eat nourishing food. Avoid the temptation of excessive alcohol, drugs and sugar that often ride sidecar to celebrating the completion of our creative endeavors.
Sleep – There’s a good chance we’ve been taking out withdrawals from our sleep bank in order to meet deadlines. After delivery, we need to repay our debt by getting back to a regular sleep schedule. Beware of chronic oversleeping (more than 8 hours) as this is a symptom of deeper depression.
Journal – Express yourself and how you are feeling. Admission of your anger or fear or hopelessness can often help dissipate it before it gets turned inward in the form of further depression.
Humor/Joy - Watch a comedy, read a book by someone named Sedaris, listen to Ricky Gervais, or seek the things and people that bring you joy.
Make Something – This doesn’t have to be a grand opus. Make a delicious dinner, a little poem or shoot some photos. The moment you do this, you regain a little bit of your creative power which reminds the depression that you’re the boss.
Ultimately what can be more painful than minor depression is not practicing our craft. So, it’s important to get back to creating as soon as possible. I know this can be hard. Sometimes we fear that what we create next could never match or exceed our last accomplishment. Don’t let this block you. What the world needs is for us to conceive, incubate and deliver our next brilliant creative project. I’m feeling better already :)
What Do You Think?
Has this ever happened to you?
What do you do when creative postpartum depression hits you?
Do you think creative postpartum depression can be helpful or harmful?
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