Recently many people ask me where do I get my inspiration from. The
question more than reasonable, as these days I mostly write fiction,
and I focus on regular creative writing exercises that serve me best.
Few years ago I would have given a very elaborate answer to that: I
would be talking about all thoughts that come to me as I pass the
streets, looking at all buildings, blue sky, how strangers on the
train evoke me a story. This time the answer is way easier:
inspiration comes to me, like to most people, in
silence. Preferably in calm, slow paced environment of my own bed
alongside the feeling that there is nothing in this world that I
have to do right now.
There are few things that can enhance your inspiration. Such as a
stable day job, that you do not hate, a peace of mind and the lack of
internet. There is probably no need to explain the blessing influence
of the first two, so I would like to focus on the latter. You see,
Internet makes me socially aware. And as I am naturally socially
awkward, the access to the window to the world makes me feel totally
exposed. One click on Google icon and I am no longer alone.
I guess there is more people around for whom the constant connection
to the Internet is a source of social anxiety. Don't get me wrong-
it’s not only social media. It’s the feeling of being constantly
connected, available, exposed to any information that might pass
through the digital channel; it’s the feeling like someone was
creeping behind your back, watching your every move.
And so to speak, social anxiety is a number one enemy of inspiration of any kind. Most writers admit that they are at their
best in their own bed, not to say desk (if you live in London, you
know that a decent desk is a luxury one shall not be dreaming of).
Straying from the theme of writers’ inspiration: the inspiration of
any kind. Even if you don’t consider yourself an artist, let’s
focus on an example of thinking activity. Every person thinks. Now
connect all of your devices to the Internet and try to think. The
shadows of your family and friends will be creeping out from every
direction, and all this information you were searching for seven
years ago with no purpose at all now becomes available. Is your
thought still roaming freely? Expand this image- now picture
yourself, with all your connected devices in a busy coffee shop where
you’re endangered to meet all your neighbours. Someone in the queue
looks like your former colleague you failed to contact over the past
few months. Your email inbox lies wide open before you, encouraging
you to insure a car that you don’t have and sign a petition on
something you have no idea about, while the radio bombards you with
the recent weather podcast. Now let me ask you once again: what is
your inspiration?
The need of being alone with our own thoughts is a vital part of any
creative process. From the point of view of your poor, suppressed
individuality any human contact, whether direct or indirect, is an
unnecessary distraction. It’s creativity that prevents us from
becoming a part of a herd. The feeling of social anxiety reminds us
that a human is, first of all, an individual. We believe we ought to
fight it in the society that pressures us to be a part of a larger
body, appealing to our need of belonging. Maybe nowadays one needs to
ask themselves, if feeling socially anxious is not a cry of some
inner self, the call for individual development. After all, we are all
imprisoned inside our minds, and only ourselves we possess truly.
And maybe that’s why the real inspiration can only come from
within. If we dare to listen to it.
