As I sit here writing this, it’s like the release valve has been opened for my internal spirit.  I can feel the pressure being discharged.  I can feel the swirling anxiety, fear, and doubt shift into optimism, hope, and excitement. 

I spent the last few days feeling stuck, lost, and disconnected.  I ate like crap, didn’t work out consistently, spent too much time scrolling on my phone, and didn’t sleep well.    

But here I am feeling totally renewed after 15 minutes of writing.  It’s always amazing to me how quickly a little bit of writing, working out, or action can turn things around. 

A big part of this is getting the thoughts out of your head and onto the paper.  Bringing order to the chaos and noise in your head. 

But I believe it goes deeper than that too.

We have a physiological need to create as humans.

Like our needs for food, water, and sunlight. 

This need is increasing within us as the inputs around us continue to increase with smart phones, social media, and technology. 

We are becoming deficient in Vitamin C.  Vitamin Creation. 

We can’t function to our highest degree if we are not creating or building on a regular basis. 

And if we aren’t functioning to our highest degree then it creates the breeding ground for disease.  Yes, real disease. 

Cancer, autoimmune conditions, depression/anxiety, injuries, neurological issues, endless cravings that lead to obesity or heart disease.  All can come about from a lack of creating and building, not just a lack of healthy food, sleep, and nourishment. 

This is especially true in a world where everyone is consuming exponentially more than they ever have before.  The endless inputs of smart phones, TV streaming apps, social media, emails, team chats, the news, podcasts, X, and youtube.  We are all consuming so much, but so little of us are doing anything to burn off that creative energy. 

We build up all this potential creative energy, but then it gets stuck and stored in our system. 

Like a person who spends all day sitting and eating junk food, we are informationally obese. 

And this informational obesity is disrupting our ability to live healthfully and thrive. 

Consuming too much information without turning that information into action, productivity, creative endeavors, or results is a breeding ground for disease. 

An abundance of processed food is what disrupts and weighs down the physical body.

An abundance of information is what disrupts and weighs down the emotional and spiritual body. 

We need all parts of our body to be thriving in order to feel and operate our best. 

Anybody who has eaten healthy and worked out consistently knows what happens when they eat too much processed food and sit around too much…their body begins to crave healthy food and movement. 

That craving only grows worse the longer they go without nourishing their body with the right stuff. 

To the person who has never worked out or eaten right consistently, they don’t experience this craving in the same way.  They don’t desire healthy food or working out because they haven’t experienced it before.  Or they misconstrue this feeling for something else. 

The same is true in creative endeavors. 

We all have a deep physical need to create and build.

When we spend weeks, months, or years with a bias towards consumption with no creative outlet, that craving to create grows within us. 

But many of us don’t recognize this craving for what it is.  We recognize it as feeling anxious, distracted, lost, hungry, bored, or something else. 

We don’t realize that our creative palette is simply undeveloped.  Our ability to discern this creative energy from stress is non-existent. 

Instead we mask it with food and substances or take out that energy on ourselves or the people around us in a negative way. 

It would be much healthier for us to just go work out or pick up a pen, but we rarely do. 

So I encourage you to stop reading this and go pick up a pen or open a blank google doc.  Start writing whatever comes to mind, whatever has been swirling in your head. 

Because you continuing to read this or go back to scrolling is just adding to your creative deficit.    

And remember this post may be creation for me, but it’s consumption for you.  Writing this is infinitely more valuable to me than it will ever be for you as the reader. 

So stop what you are doing and go take action.