Creating During Chaos

Every time the world feels like it’s unraveling, a familiar idea resurfaces:

Now is not the time for creativity.

It can sound responsible. Mature. Moral, even.
When there is suffering, violence, injustice, or uncertainty, making art can feel frivolous—or worse, selfish.

I understand why that thought arises. And I want to gently challenge it.

Because creativity has never belonged only to peaceful, stable times. In fact, throughout history, art has most reliably appeared during chaos—not after it.

Creativity Has Always Existed in the Middle of Crisis

There are countless examples of people making music, art, and beauty while their worlds were literally falling apart.

During World War II, musicians played in public squares while bombs fell nearby—not to deny reality, but to stay connected to something human inside it.

On the Titanic, as the ship was sinking, the orchestra continued to play. Not because it would save anyone—but because it helped people remain present, calm, and together in the face of terror.

These weren’t acts of denial.
They were acts of regulation.

Creativity Isn’t Escapism—It’s Regulation

There’s a difference between escaping reality and creating capacity to be with reality.

When we create—especially without pressure for outcome—we engage the nervous system in a way that thinking alone cannot. Rhythm, repetition, movement, mark-making, sound, color: these things bring us back into the body.

They help us process what is too large to hold cognitively.

In times of chaos, many of us live almost entirely in our heads—scrolling, analyzing, worrying, anticipating. Creativity interrupts that loop. It brings us back into sensation, breath, and presence.

Not to fix the world.
But to stay human inside it.

Is Creativity a “Higher-Level” Need?

Abraham Maslow famously placed creativity near the top of his hierarchy of needs—something we access once safety, food, and shelter are secured.

That framework makes sense in some ways. And it’s also incomplete.

Anthropologist Ellen Dissanayake offers a different perspective. She argues that creativity isn’t a luxury or a reward—it’s a biological human need. Something humans do instinctively in order to cope, bond, and make meaning.

In other words: creativity doesn’t come after survival.
It often supports survival.

We don’t create because everything is okay.
We create because everything isn’t.

Why Women Especially Struggle With This

Many women—especially those raised in high-demand systems—carry a deep internalized belief that their needs must be justified.

Rest must be earned.
Pleasure must be productive.
Art must lead to something useful.

If you were taught that obedience, sacrifice, or endurance were virtues, then creating something simply because it helps you breathe can feel wrong.

But creativity doesn’t need permission.

You don’t need to be “done helping.”
You don’t need to be fully regulated first.
You don’t need to justify making something small and imperfect.

Want Support When Anxiety Feels High?

If your nervous system feels activated and you want something gentle, grounding, and non-performative, I’ve created a free set of Anxiety-Soothing Art Prompts.

These are simple, low-pressure creative exercises designed to:

• Help calm your nervous system

• Bring you out of your head and back into your body

• Give anxious energy somewhere to go—without needing to talk it through

You don’t need art experience or special supplies.
Just a few minutes and a willingness to make marks instead of fixing yourself.

👉 Download the Anxiety-Soothing Art Prompts

Creating during chaos isn’t about pretending the world is fine.

It’s about refusing to disappear inside the overwhelm.

It’s about tending to the part of you that still notices beauty, rhythm, color, sound—because that part is what allows you to stay connected, compassionate, and alive.

The world doesn’t need you optimized.
It needs you here.

And sometimes, the most grounded thing you can do
is make something small
while everything else feels unfinished.