I talked last week about finding space for a creative practice when your brain feels overloaded. But some brains feel more overloaded than others. As someone with ADHD and who has struggled with mental health challenges my whole life, my brain is a busy, noisy and very crowded place to be. So I wanted to talk a bit about what it means to create with a neurodivergent mind.
Neurodiversity covers such a huge spectrum - everything from autism and ADHD, through things like dyslexia, dyspraxia and dyscalculia, keep going through OCD and bipolar disorder, until you reach depression, anxiety and even Seasonal Affective Disorder. No one essay could ever hope to cover, or even understand, the experience of living with every single one, especially not a quick note before a set of writing prompts, so I’m not going to attempt to make this exhaustive. But I do want to make two observations: 1) a lot of creatives I know are also neurodivergent; and 2) there are some common challenges that neurodivergent people often encounter in the creative process.
On the first point, I don’t think this is a coincidence. Neurodivergence involves, by definition, experiencing the world differently. A neurodivergent brain is one that processes information in a way that is outside the range expected by our society. As neurodivergent people, we’re seeing life in ways the neurotypicals aren’t, and we’re often able to express that in distinctive ways. Because society doesn’t give us space to fully express ourselves in the way it does for neurotypicals, we often have to find creative outlets to free the thoughts that are ricocheting around the insides of our heads. And since society is not often particularly kind to neurodivergent people (or anything that deviates from its supposed “norms”), and is rarely effective in identifying or supporting neurodivergent people, many of us end up struggling with our mental health. Emotional pain is fertile ground for creativity, because it needs to be worked through and channeled outwards, and artistic tools are ideal for this.
To the second point, standard creative advice isn’t always helpful for neurodivergent types. For one thing, the oft-repeated insistence that you should focus on one project at a time and not deviate from it until it’s done is rubbish advice for someone with ADHD. I will never stick to one thing at a time, and, if I try to force myself, I will quickly become miserable, get discouraged and end up telling myself this just isn’t for me. I have four folders on the go at the moment, each containing a carefully organised structure to tell me where I am and show me where everything is for each project I’m currently working on, so that I can dip in and out of each one as the spirit moves me. I also have an “ideas board” (which is actually just a giant bit of paper) where I can write down new ideas that pop into my head that I’m not quite ready to actually work on yet but that my brain would like me to acknowledge have been received. Like a read receipt on an email.
The other piece of standard advice that drives me crazy is the idea that consistency is everything. You’ve got to show up and write 500 words every day, or you must produce one painting a week. When you’re neurodivergent, you’re dealing with drastically fluctuating moods and energy levels. If you try to produce consistently, you’re going to either burn out or feel like you’re constantly failing. Yes, showing up every day (or at least most days) is good, but how you show up can vary. One day you might work solidly on a project for two hours and love every minute of it. The next day, showing up might just involve spending 10 minutes thinking about the project. The next day, showing up might mean going for a walk and shaking up your energy and getting some blood flowing to your brain ready to take in some inspiration. You will experience peaks and troughs in your creative output, and probably some ebbs and flows in how much you’re truly enjoying it. Trying to fight that is only going to lead to you feeling bad about yourself, which is going to block the creative energy.
So my main conclusion in all this, and I think it applies to everyone, not just the neurodivergent among us, is this: go with your own personal flow. You need to tune into your own rhythms, and point yourself in whichever direction your strengths are lying each day. Your unique sense of the world, and the way that only you can express the idea of life, is what makes your art worthwhile. Being able to listen to your soul and speak from your heart is vital in order to create with honesty, integrity and purpose. Be true to who you are and listen to how your mind and body are telling you to approach this. They know more than you think.
“Your intuition knows what to write, so get out of the way.”
Ray Bradbury
With that in mind, let’s get creating!
Saturday 26th August
Find out as much as you can about the history of your house, or your street, or your town. What sort of people lived here? How has it changed over the years? What big events have taken place here? What might your life have been like here 50 / 100 / 500 years ago?
Sunday 27th August
Use this as a prompt to inspire some writing / painting / collaging / photography / whatever creative activity you would like to engage in:
Family histories.
Monday 28th August
Reflection prompt.
Journal, meditate or just spend some time thinking about this question:
What creative activities did you do as a child? When did you feel at your most creative when you were young? What was it about those activities that you enjoyed?
Tuesday 29th August
Visit a place you know well - it could be the house you grew up in, a café you go to every week, or the place you do your regular shopping. If you can’t go somewhere like that in real life, close your eyes and go there in your mind.
Try to see the place with completely fresh eyes. What small details have you become used to that would stand out for someone visiting for the first time? How would you introduce someone new to this place? What elements would you point out? What could you tell them about the history of the building or the room or the people there? What sensations, smells, sounds and so on would you expect them to notice?
Wednesday 30th August
Free writing.
You’re going to write for at least 15 minutes without stopping. Set a timer so you don’t need to keep checking the clock. Keep your pen moving for the full 15 minutes, even if you just write “I don’t know what to write, this exercise is hard, Allegra is mean”. Just keep writing and let whatever words jump into your brain flow down into your hand and onto the page. You can keep going at the end of the 15 minutes if you want to, but you have to keep going for at least 15 minutes. Use this as your first line to get you started:
Everyone always said she looked just like her father.
Thursday 31st August
Reflection prompt.
Journal, meditate or just spend some time thinking about this question:
Is anyone else in your family creative? How was creativity viewed in your family when you were growing up? Have your creative efforts been encouraged?
Friday 1st September
Create a mind map using the word “history”.
If you’ve not done mind mapping before, it’s a way to track word associations and connected concepts. (If you Google “how to make a mind map”, you’ll find lots of examples.) You start out with the word “history” in a circle in the middle. Then draw a line from that circle to another circle with a related word (this could be “family” or “school” or “old-fashioned”). Think of as many words related to your central word as possible, then do the same for all of the words around it. Then do the same for those words. As you branch out, see if there are any interesting connections being made between concepts that might previously have seemed unrelated, or any interesting themes emerging.
Next week’s prompts will be out next Saturday - make sure you’re subscribed so they hit your inbox. Please do share in the comments your responses to any of these prompts, and feel free to share this post with anyone who might enjoy it.
This is one of the best pieces of writing on this topic that I've seen in a little while Allegra. People are always asking me in my work what I have found about the link between creativity and mental health/neurodivergence. As you said, there's no succinct way to encompass all of it which is why I consider my research to be a lifelong body of work. That said, I think you've expressed something super critical here that I intend to explore more which is the point about how since society doesn't make space for divergent thinking, we have to find ways to express ourselves outside of the regular channels in society, and that often leads us into creative expression. This is ringing so true to me.
Great advice and insight here. I'm neurodivergent as well. Learning to deal with and accept fluctuating energy and attention is so important.