Creativity kills fear
Your creativity is a superpower and you can harness it
Creativity is joy.
It’s freedom. It’s laughter, lightness, flow, play, magic, imagination, expansion, movement and no limits.
Fear is the opposite.
It’s heavy, dark, overthinking, feeling stuck, darkness, expectations, scarcity, and self-doubt.
In terms of our brains, when we’re in fear, our amygdala is running the show, our brain prioritizing safety, certainty, and control. The amygdala—our fear center—triggers our fight, flight, or freeze response, shutting down experimentation and creative flow.
But when we’re in creativity, the prefrontal cortex activates and generates new ideas, sees connections, and takes creative risks. Fear suppresses the prefrontal cortex, but engaging in creative work can override fear.
Creativity isn’t just painting a picture or writing a story. It’s present in areas of our lives we might not immediately think of as inherently creative: planning a vacation, problem-solving at work, navigating difficult conversations, or choosing an outfit.
Fear isn’t just found in everyday situations like flying, public speaking, or making a big life decision. It’s also the root of perfectionism, procrastination, self-doubt, and people-pleasing.
That’s why fear is so crippling and creativity is so powerful.
Your brain can hold fear and creativity simultaneously, but not well.
If fear dominates, creativity gets blocked by overthinking, perfectionism, or self-doubt. If creativity leads, fear fades into the background as the brain shifts into flow.
This is why I think we can harness creativity to overcome fear in our lives and careers.
The science makes sense here, and I’ve also repeatedly used it in my own life to overcome the fears holding me back.
Relocating to Nashville was one of the scariest things I’ve ever done. At the height of my nerves around it, creating a plan and building a tour of the first six months was a very effective way to move from fear into creative flow again.
The creativity you use to shift the fear energy doesn’t have to be related. When I’m going down a comparison and insecurity spiral on social media, picking up my bass to play even for just 5 minutes shifts the energy.
I’ve also seen firsthand how perfectionism—one of fear’s sneakiest disguises—can be transformed into creativity. When I catch myself obsessing over getting something just right—rewriting the same caption, over-editing a post, or endlessly tweaking a design—I shift from fixing to making. Instead of perfecting one thing, I challenge myself to create five new ideas as fast as possible. Motion over perfection. Flow over frustration. Every time, it pulls me out of the fear of not getting it right and into the freedom of exploring what’s possible.
Creativity is a tool to break out of fear loops, reframe hesitation, and get unstuck.
When we create, we disrupt the fear spiral and put ourselves back in motion.
When we struggle with some of the “right-brain” tasks necessary to build an artist career, it can feel like being more naturally creative is a liability.
But you can learn any practical skills you’re missing.
Your innate creativity is a gift.
You can use it to distract a fearful mind, transform perfectionism or procrastination by harnessing your creativity, and let it be what sets you apart from everyone else.
Your creativity is a superpower.
