Channel the Energy: Turning Restlessness Into Creativity

There are days when we have too much energy and absolutely no idea what to do with it.

Not necessarily physical energy. Sometimes it is emotional energy. Mental noise. Frustration. Curiosity. Anxiety about the future. A strange urge to change something. Ten ideas arriving at the same time. The feeling that you should be doing something, creating something, becoming something, but you cannot quite identify what that something is.

So what do we often do?

We scroll.

We reorganize a drawer that did nothing wrong.

We open the refrigerator despite knowing perfectly well what is inside.

We think about seventeen different possibilities and begin none of them.

But there is another possibility.

We can channel some of that energy into creativity.

Creativity gives energy somewhere to go.

And no, this does not mean you need to paint a masterpiece, write a novel, compose a symphony, or suddenly discover that you are secretly Frida Kahlo.

Creativity can be much smaller and much more ordinary than that.

It can be writing one paragraph.

Rearranging a room.

Trying a recipe without following it exactly.

Taking photographs.

Making music.

Designing something.

Gardening.

Solving a problem at work differently.

Creating a new lesson.

Starting a business idea.

Writing in a journal.

Planning a trip.

Making something beautiful simply because you wanted beauty around you.

Creativity is not only about producing art.

It is about turning what is inside us into something that did not exist before.

Your Energy Is Looking for Somewhere to Go

When we feel restless, overwhelmed, frustrated, or emotionally charged, our instinct is often to eliminate the feeling.

We tell ourselves:

“I need to calm down.”

“I need to stop thinking.”

“I need to get myself together.”

But what if the goal is not always to eliminate the energy?

What if sometimes we need to redirect it?

Anger can become writing.

Curiosity can become research.

Loneliness can become music, community, or storytelling.

Confusion can become questions.

Boredom can become experimentation.

A difficult life transition can become the beginning of an entirely different project.

We do not have to romanticize painful emotions to recognize that they contain information. They can tell us what matters, what feels unfinished, what needs expression, and sometimes what needs to change.

Creativity provides a container for some of that energy.

Stop Waiting to Feel Creative

One of the biggest myths about creativity is that we must wait for inspiration.

We imagine creative people waking up dramatically at 3:17 in the morning shouting, “I have it!”

Occasionally, perhaps.

Most creativity is much less cinematic.

It often begins with sitting down and doing something.

Research on everyday creativity suggests that creative activity may actually contribute to well being rather than simply being something we do when we already feel wonderful. In a 13 day study involving 658 young adults, Conner, DeYoung, and Silvia found that people reported greater positive emotion and flourishing following days when they engaged in more creative activities than usual.

That changes the equation.

Instead of:

I will create when I feel better.

Try:

Maybe creating something will help me move.

Not cure everything.

Not fix everything.

But move.

And movement matters.

Give Yourself a Small Creative Container

When people hear “be creative,” the possibilities can become overwhelming.

So make the container smaller.

Give yourself twenty minutes.

Choose one notebook.

One page.

One photograph.

One idea.

One problem.

One song.

One recipe.

One corner of a room.

Creativity often expands once we begin, but beginning becomes easier when the task does not feel enormous.

Instead of saying:

“I am going to write a book.”

Try:

“I am going to write 300 words.”

Instead of:

“I need to reinvent my career.”

Try:

“I am going to sketch three possibilities for what my next chapter could look like.”

Instead of:

“I need to become more artistic.”

Try:

“I am going to make something today that nobody needs to see.”

Small creative acts count.

They may actually be where much of everyday creativity lives.

Make Something wrong

This may be one of the most liberating creative practices available:

Give yourself permission to make something terrible.

Write the bad first paragraph.

Draw the strange picture.

Record the awkward first video.

Create the presentation that still needs work.

Try the idea that may fail.

Perfectionism consumes creative energy because we are simultaneously trying to create, evaluate, predict other people's reactions, avoid embarrassment, and produce something impressive.

That is exhausting.

Creation and evaluation do not always need to happen at the same time.

First, make it.

Later, improve it.

Your first attempt does not need to prove that you are talented.

Its job is simply to exist.

Walk Away From the Problem

Sometimes channeling creative energy means temporarily stopping.

This sounds contradictory, but research on creative incubation suggests otherwise.

Baird and colleagues found that participants who took a break involving an undemanding activity that encouraged mind wandering later showed improved performance on previously encountered creative problems compared with several other conditions.

In other words, staring aggressively at a problem is not always the most creative strategy.

The shower idea is real enough to deserve our respect.

So is the walking idea.

The washing dishes idea.

The staring out the window like the mysterious protagonist of an independent European film idea.

Your brain may still be making connections while your conscious attention is somewhere else.

When you become creatively stuck, try alternating between focused work and mental space.

Work on the problem.

Then walk.

Write.

Then make coffee.

Brainstorm.

Then fold laundry.

Sketch.

Then sit outside.

Give ideas room to find one another.

Protect a Little Boredom

We have become extraordinarily efficient at eliminating boredom.

There is almost no empty moment left.

Elevator?

Phone.

Waiting room?

Phone.

Bus?

Phone.

Coffee shop?

Phone.

Three seconds without stimulation?

Apparently an emergency.

But creativity needs some unoccupied mental territory.

If every tiny opening in our attention is immediately filled with somebody else's videos, opinions, advertisements, arguments, photographs, news, and ideas, when exactly do our own ideas get to arrive?

You do not need to abandon technology and move into a cabin.

Just create small pockets where nothing is demanding your attention.

Walk without listening to anything.

Sit with coffee without scrolling.

Take a shower without bringing the entire internet psychologically into the bathroom with you.

Let your mind wander occasionally.

Something interesting may be happening there.

Transform Consumption Into Creation

Ask yourself a simple question:

How much am I consuming compared with how much I am creating?

We consume enormous quantities of other people's creativity.

Movies.

TikToks.

Podcasts.

Books.

Instagram posts.

Music.

Newsletters.

Articles.

Courses.

That is not inherently bad. Other people's work can educate and inspire us.

But constant consumption can create the illusion of participation.

Watching someone paint is not painting.

Watching someone travel is not traveling.

Watching someone build a business is not building one.

Watching someone write is definitely not writing, no matter how many inspirational quotes about writing we save.

Try shifting the ratio.

After consuming something inspiring, make something.

Read an article and write your own response.

Watch a cooking video and experiment with a recipe.

See beautiful photography and go outside with your camera.

Listen to a fascinating podcast and journal about what it made you think about.

Let inspiration become movement rather than storage.

Use Creativity When Life Feels Uncertain

Creative activity may be particularly valuable during periods when life feels undefined.

Career changes.

Retirement.

Moving somewhere new.

Children leaving home.

Relationship changes.

Starting over.

Turning 40, 50, 60, or 70 and realizing that adulthood apparently did not arrive with the instruction manual we were promised.

These moments create psychological energy because the old structure is changing while the new one has not fully formed.

Creativity allows us to experiment with possibilities before committing to them.

You can write about a future life before living it.

Sketch a business before launching it.

Explore a hobby before becoming good at it.

Imagine several possible futures instead of demanding that you immediately identify the correct one.

Creativity lets us say:

I don't know yet, but I can explore.

That is very different from being stuck.

Creativity May Give Something Back

Research increasingly suggests that creativity and well being can reinforce one another.

Tan and colleagues examined creativity and subjective well being across multiple studies involving university students and working adults. They found positive relationships between creativity and subjective well being, and an experimental component also found higher subjective well being among participants exposed to a creativity promoting activity compared with a control condition.

This does not mean creativity is a treatment for depression, anxiety, trauma, or other mental health conditions.

It is not.

But creativity can be part of a meaningful life.

It can give us agency when circumstances feel beyond our control.

It can give form to thoughts we cannot easily explain.

It can remind us that we are capable of producing something rather than merely reacting to everything happening around us.

And perhaps most importantly, creativity returns us to curiosity.

Try This: The 30 Minute Creative Energy Experiment

The next time you feel restless, frustrated, bored, emotionally overloaded, or mentally scattered, do not immediately reach for distraction.

Give yourself thirty minutes.

For the first five minutes, write down everything occupying your mind.

Do not organize it.

Then choose one thing that has energy around it.

Spend twenty minutes turning that energy into something.

Write.

Draw.

Research.

Brainstorm.

Photograph.

Design.

Cook.

Play music.

Rearrange.

Build.

Imagine.

During the final five minutes, ask yourself:

How do I feel now compared with thirty minutes ago?

Do not judge the quality of what you created.

Pay attention to what happened to your energy.

That is the experiment.

You Do Not Need to Call Yourself Creative

Perhaps the most limiting phrase is:

“I'm not creative.”

You do not need the identity first.

You need the practice.

Creativity is not a private club populated by painters, musicians, writers, designers, and people who own unusually interesting scarves.

Human beings create constantly.

We create solutions.

Meals.

Homes.

Stories.

Businesses.

Lessons.

Relationships.

Traditions.

Gardens.

Possibilities.

New versions of ourselves.

The question may not be whether you are creative.

The better question is:

Where is your creative energy going?

Because that restless part of you may not always need to be silenced.

Sometimes it needs a project.

Sometimes it needs an empty page.

Sometimes it needs twenty minutes without your phone.

And sometimes it simply needs permission to make something new.

References

Baird, B., Smallwood, J., Mrazek, M. D., Kam, J. W. Y., Franklin, M. S., & Schooler, J. W. (2012). Inspired by distraction: Mind wandering facilitates creative incubation. Psychological Science, 23(10), 1117–1122. Read the research

Conner, T. S., DeYoung, C. G., & Silvia, P. J. (2018). Everyday creative activity as a path to flourishing. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 13(2), 181–189. Read the research

Tan, C. Y., Chuah, C. Q., Lee, S. T., & Tan, C. S. (2021). Being creative makes you happier: The positive effect of creativity on subjective well being. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(14), 7244. Read the open access article