The Contradiction of Creativity: Why We Struggle to Show Up for Our Music

Ever notice how, despite loving music deeply, you sometimes avoid it? You want to write that song, practice that technique, or record that track (or those five tracks that I have stacked up to knock out), but instead, you scroll, procrastinate, or convince yourself that now isn’t quite the right time?

My wife and I often listen to Jeff Warren’s Daily Trip guided meditation on the Calm app before we start the day. On the morning of this writing, Jeff’s focus was essentially that struggle mentioned above.

“Is there anything in your life where, on the one hand, you value and care about it so much . . . yet, on the other hand, you somehow have trouble committing to it, or being with it, or acting on it the way you want to? No judgement here. It’s just an exploration. Where is one place in your life that’s full of contradictions?”

Welcome to the paradox of being a musician (or really––as he points out––of being a human).

We crave growth, but we resist the work. We long to create, but we fear the outcome. We dream of effortless inspiration, but we hit walls of doubt and distraction.

Sound familiar?

Yeah, I thought so.

Why This Happens

There’s no single reason musicians struggle with this contradiction, but here are a few common ones that perhaps you may be able to relate to:

Perfectionism:
If it can’t be great, why start at all?

Fear of judgment:
What if this song, solo, or recorded take isn’t as good as you hope?

Decision paralysis:
With endless things to work on, how do you even choose?

Emotional attachment:
Your music means something to you, which makes showing up for it incredibly vulnerable.

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Jeff then encourages us to meditate on some important questions:

“And the next part of this practice is asking: can you forgive yourself for it? Can you say to yourself: it’s okay to be complicated? Because . . . welcome to the club. What are the words you need to hear right now? In your own way, see if you can sit here and connect to a bit of acceptance for yourself.”

Acceptance for yourself? Wow, how difficult can that be, right?

But it’s crucial to remember that creativity isn’t a straight line. It’s a messy, unpredictable process. Accepting that messiness (even a bit of it) might be the first step toward moving through it.

How to Move Forward (Even When You Resist)

Lower the bar to entry:
Don’t feel like practicing? Tell yourself that you’re only going to play for five minutes. Don’t want to sit down and engage in the formal process of writing? Try just humming a melody into your phone’s voice recorder. Small actions keep momentum alive.

Separate creation from critique:
Record that rough idea without judging it. Play without worrying about perfection. Edit later.

Forgive the gaps:
Skipped a week of practicing? Messed up at a gig? As Jeff would say: “Welcome to being human, my friend.” Don’t beat yourself up about it. Start fresh. Today.

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On that note, I’m lowering the bar to entry and heading into my studio right now to simply set up a Pro Tools session for just one track. We’ll see what comes of it all . . .

What’s one way you resist music? And what’s one small action you can take anyway? Comment below, share about it, and let’s figure this out together.

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