Creative Outliers tend to be sensitive which can push and pull them in different directions than less imaginative more mainstream folks. This means as the outside impinges upon them, they often feel more compelled to respond. This can take the form of a large range of types of responses. Entrepreneurs see problems and say let’s start a company to address this. Artists, writers and composers may feel the need to emanate into the world some expressive response. This can grow tiresome not only to the creative outlier but also to those around them who get taken along for the ride. This can strain relationships, especially with those who are at times less sensitive and less compelled to act
Additionally, not all responses are constructive. Examples include substance abuse and depression especially when the outside news we are bombarded with is so negative. There are however more constructive sanctuaries such as reading, meditating, waking nature and many many more but for creative outliers what seems to work the best is creating and expressing which some of the time if appropriate and passing muster, makes it into the outside world. These creative acts can evolve into creative processes and some of the time workflows, which may even be able to be monetized.
Using your creativity to create a practice where you can be, at least to some degree, insulated from the chaos of the outside world is doubly useful. You retreat from negativity and you create more works. What an ideal example of adapting. This iterative expressive creative dance can be a very healthy constructive response to being bombarded with a typical seven-twenty-four bummer news cycle.
As creative outliers are empowered to manifest more responses and options to the more observed and experienced external (internal) phenomena, they tend to have a larger emotional dynamic range. When someone is gifted they can have more of everything. More problems. More issues. More responses. More options. And more ability to habituate positive practices which can function as a sanctuary. Those who have more know this can be double-edged. More can be a blessing or a curse depending upon how it is managed, instead of being mangled.
Practices also can be habituated. Habits are nothing more than automatic behaviors. If there are positive expressive creativity serving behaviors you have learned help with your workflow or expressive process, they can also be habituated into practices that can shield you from the vicissitudes of external and even internal chaos.
In short, they can provide sanctuary, a safe personal place in a crazy world. For some, this happens accidentally but one can actually lower the overhead associated with creative expression by habituating creative behaviors which are consistent with whatever your creative identity is.
Three simple steps to sanctuary. First, determine, discover or invent your creative identity. Second derive some behaviors consistent with this creative identity. And then third, habituate (automate) these behaviors into a practice that takes no effort because it is a habit that you feel incomplete if neglected.
You have just consciously invented your very own personal sanctuary.