Everyone grows up at some point. The phenomena that were once terrifying, like quick sand, or the bermuda triangle, become miniscule parts of everyday lives. Alternatively, as children grow up, a change in creativity and creative drive occurs.
When you were younger you may have enjoyed reading picture books, making up stories, playing board games, drawing, writing and many more activities that your young mind would have dreamt up. But as you grow, you also experience feelings of burnout or exhaustion as you go through school, jobs and other parts of everyday life. With upcoming midterm exams, many students may have the growing feeling of creative burnout, which is natural when under periods of stress. Many credit the decrease of creative drive to just growing up, or the way that life works. But regardless of the reason, it is important to try and find expressive outlets, and find ways to maintain your creative spark.
WFS English teachers, Ms. Kenney and Ms. McManus both offer hopeful insight, both expressing that students must exercise the muscle for writing and reading to improve their ease in the practice. McManus says, “You gotta keep working on that muscle, it doesn’t just happen. And at first it’s hard, right? It’s hard to do, but once that muscle gets built, you get stronger and it’s easier to do.” When asked how to prevent burnout, McManus says “its important to remind ourselves to have fun, which is a good way to avoid burnout.” She also finds different ways to have creative outlets,” and thinks that they “really help with avoiding burnout.”
Ms. Kenney reflects on the possible change in how students learn, saying, “Over the past 10-15 years, attention spans are definitely shorter, like, it’s harder for some students to sustain attention” Kenney says, “I think it has to do with our devices, and then sometimes, creativity feels hard”
Elia Lichterman, 2028 says,“Well, it’s hard for me to read, the words jumble together, and it gives me headaches” after being asked about whether she enjoys reading. “I don’t see the enjoyment in reading stories when you can just listen to them.”
When asked if her dislike of reading affected her personal creativity, she says, “I feel like that made me more creative.” Lichterman says that she does have expressive outlets with artistic activities like drawing and painting. She also expresses one sentiment that many students may find relatable, that school work creates a feeling of resistance and dread for reading for her. “It’s made me like reading less. If it’s forced upon me, then I’m not going to do it for fun.” She says, going on to bring up that the only time she enjoys reading is when it is on her own, without any relationship to school, like the Keeper of the Lost Cities book series.
Lichterman remarks on the difficulties of creative storytelling, saying, “I have the plotline in my head, but I have zero energy to make all the details.” Going even farther to explain her issues with school and how it drains her energy.“School itself is designed in one specific way to teach people how to learn when that’s not how everyone learns.”
English teacher, Ms. Kenney says that she focuses many class activities around the generation of writing to make it easier for students. She says, “I keep thinking about generation. Like generating ideas. Generating stuff that’s coming out of you. It forces you to generate something. The more you practice it, the more that muscle strengthens, and the better you get at it, but you definitely need the practice” when discussing how useful journaling is.
Creativity is an invaluable part of development and everyday life. From the way that you dress, to school work, to simply the way one views the world. MemorialCare Organization, an organization dedicated to providing accessible healthcare to millions, says that creativity in everyday life can help with mental health, can calm brain waves, and activate the part of the brain that processes emotions. The loss of such a creative drive truly takes a toll on both adolescents and adults. You could draw, dance, listen to new music, journal or find a variety of different ways to be expressive. It’s also incredibly important to make sure that you are including self care into your day, especially during stressful times, to fight off feelings of burnout and to keep the creative spark alive. Though it can be difficult to take all of these things into mind with lingering responsibilities and tasks, creativity is so important, so maybe start to think about how you can incorporate creativity into your daily life.
Ferrante, A. (2020, September 7). 7 ways creativity boosts your mental and Physical Health. MemorialCare. https://www.memorialcare.org/blog/7-ways-creativity-boosts-your-mental-and-physical-health
