How Extended Breaks Will Benefit Your Creativity As A Musician

Taking extended breaks can promote creativity in many ways, especially for imaginative minds like musicians. When we take time away from our creative work and rest our minds, a few key things happen.

Our unconscious minds continue working even when we step away from a creative project. Our brains continue to make connections and process ideas in the background. By not actively focusing on the work, we free up mental resources that can forge new connections and see things from a new perspective. Many great ideas, solutions, and “aha!” moments emerge from the unconscious mind. Taking a walk, doing light exercise, or engaging in an undemanding task can facilitate this background processing.

We forget useless details and see the bigger picture. When we are deeply immersed in a creative project like composing music, it is easy to get bogged down in small details and lose sight of the overall vision or flow. Stepping away allows us to forget unimportant minutiae and see the project from a fresh, wider perspective. We can then re-engage with a rejuvenated sense of direction and purpose.

We experience an emotional recharge. Creativity is an emotional and intellectual endeavor. When we are stressed, burnt out, or experiencing blocks, it is difficult for inspiration to strike. Taking a break allows our minds and bodies to rest, recharge, and replenish depleted resources. We can return feeling motivated and passionate again, with a renewed creative spirit.

We also get novel inspiration. When we remove ourselves from a familiar environment or routine, we expose ourselves to new sources of stimulation and inspiration. A walk in nature, reading an unrelated book, or engaging in a hobby can activate new associations and ideas in our minds. Seemingly random or unrelated stimuli often connect in surprising ways, sparking new insights or revelations about our creative work. Traveling to an unfamiliar place for a longer break can be especially fruitful.

Taking periodic extended breaks boosts creativity by allowing unconscious processing, promoting a wider perspective, facilitating an emotional recharge, and exposing us to new inspiration. For musicians and other creatives, building in more substantial rest periods can help overcome creative blocks, rekindle passion for a project, and nurture a constant state of inspiration and flow. While total rest has benefits, balancing rest with exposure to unrelated stimuli leads to peak creativity. By stepping away from music for a while, musicians can come back to their craft with a refreshed sense of creativity and purpose.

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