It’s bustling with people. No. Maybe just a few so it isn’t too loud.
I can hear the faint tapping and tinkling of glasses, the clink of a spoon being set on an empty plate where there was once a slice of cheesecake, the light clattering noise coming from behind the counter. I can hear the rattling burr of coffee beans in the grinder, the swishing sound of the espresso machine, and finally, the flow of smooth coffee making its way to the bottom of the cup, the sound getting lighter as it nears the brim.
Indie pop tracks stream from the stereo…or a tastefully curated playlist of stripped-down acoustics; take your pick.
I take my seat by the glass window that links the ceiling to the floor, surrounded with the indistinct chatter of customers. The chair does not have a backrest, so I’m forced to sit up straight. The laptop screen before me blares the atrocious deadlines that I deliberately ignore for a good 15 minutes or longer. Next to it is a drink that rests on a coaster — let’s pretend it’s what I ordered from the barista, but it might as well be anything from my kitchen.
I’m at my favorite café. No. Well, not physically at least. I’m virtually there through a website that plays these sounds for me and with gentle white noise, constructs a new backdrop for my mind to wander and wonder. I’m left to my imagination to fill in the rest of the details.
It is certainly fascinating how one’s senses could pick up the minutiae of a setting and let the mind conjure up a scenery at will. But technology can only do so much as to offer a stand-in for the real environments we look for.
In the midst of a lockdown, getting a change of pace is almost elusive. We have gotten used to assigning destinations on a subliminal level to certain activities: work is to the office as rest is to our respective homes. But the lines are thinning as people are left with little to no choice but to continue living life within the confines of their homes.
Focus is slowly escaping us until lackluster spirits take over. It is an uphill climb to keep sanguine in such a time when outside is a daily paroxysm of new cases of the coronavirus.
Overborne and overburdened — this pernicious becoming of people from all walks of life could carve a path to what researchers call a “processing disfluency” or when the subjective encounter of ease in processing information is lacking. The turn of events has left us constantly on pins and needles, productivity on the wane. It is as if creativity has been capsized.
Yet the purported comforts of our homes detract not one iota from the needed conducive environment.
A great deal of research on creative cognition explicates that subtle cues from our present environment do have a hand in human cognition and behavior. To cite an example, a 2012 research on ambient noise showed that a moderate level of noise is enough to prompt abstract thinking to enhance creativity.
Before the first annus horribilis, we had variety in work environment, multiple chances for a change in setting — something diametrically different from our set up now. The external constraints have their bearing on our mental capacities to construe scenarios, ideas, and thus impede creativity.
Your environment matters
We used to step outside our homes, rising with the sun as the day began. Now, the day begins whenever we want it to as time has gotten harder to keep track of. The only thing that demarcated one day from the other was hard-to-stomach news.
The world is a small screen for now.
This not-so-great shift of workspaces towards homes demands even greater adjustments to get us in the right headspace and allow our creative juices to start free flowing again even if it means having to explore a virtual suite of tools online.
I asked four multimedia arts students from the De La Salle College of Saint Benilde to share their experiences in their studies which heavily required skill and creative cognition.
The environment you are in also has much to do with the company you keep. Something about seeing your other friends, driven with passion, work on their own tasks also stokes up the once latent motivation within you, Noreen Bharwani shared. “We would normally spend ‘til midnight in a certain cafe until we get our work done. I guess being with my friends helps as well because since they are working on their requirements, I get motivated as well to get things done.”
For Lizen Kate Vales, the outdoors was where she could untether creativity. If not in vacant classrooms, computer labs, the cafeteria, or a cafe with music and two, three friends to keep her company, she said “[b]eing immersed in nature also helped me gain peace of mind and better thinking to produce something.” For one who takes inspiration from moving around a lot, the pandemic called for a drastic rearrangement.
But working at home where there were likely lesser distractions and instances of getting sidetracked is what Ricardo Zhao preferred. Oftentimes, being away from too much hubbub would be helpful and, especially for art students, it can be intimidating when other people watch you do your work, Gian San Pedro said.
A regular to local cafes, Bharwani’s creative power is fueled by the observable happenings and people around her. “I would go to a quiet cafe if I needed to write a paper or if I needed to make an inspirational video, I would go to an ambient cafe. I would have a certain place assigned to each task I needed to accomplish,” she said.
Before the pandemic, San Pedro shared, he also made it a habit to designate work areas depending on the task. Because multimedia art courses had creative outputs that required heavy RAM, going to university’s computer labs and work areas inside campus were ideal. “I'd always rather do the work where it's intended to be accomplished rather than taking it somewhere else […] I guess in some way, it was my way of setting boundaries between home and school,” he said.
But the advent of Covid-19 made crossing those boundaries an inescapable undertaking. “The change was quite jarring, to put it lightly. As I no longer had means to separate work from home,” he said, “along with the constant changing academic system, it drove me nuts.”
While Zhao used to enjoy working in a space where he need not worry about adjusting to a new setting, being cooped up in the house for over a year is beginning to take its toll, he admitted; “The environment at home is somewhat getting to be stressful and uneasy as well. I’ve learned to set my mind that whenever I’m at home I only need to rest and help around the house.”
Looking for inspiration and capturing it to create new content had become quite the struggle, Bharwani revealed. “Like when I needed to brainstorm for a certain project, it would take me days before I could actually come up with a good and polished idea because I was so unmotivated and uninspired,” she added.
“Kapit lang!” Vales liked to tell herself and her friends.
Sometimes it takes a little hollow moment, a setback, maybe a wee bit of boredom, or a gentle nudge to begin improving your craft.
San Pedro bared a core principle of creativity: there are a lot of things we have no direct control over; but what we can control is how we utilize whatever it is we can.
“Just keep creating,” Bharwani said.
“I guess one of the things the pandemic has taught this outgoing person,” she continued “is that inspiration can be found even in the smallest things and even in the mundane details. That’s what’s beautiful about art, because it knows no boundaries and it can’t confine you nor your circumstances.”
Creative block? It would not hurt to breathe, take a break, or try again tomorrow. At your own pace — that is how it should be. Afterall, creativity is not something you can rush, especially when stressors in a chaotic, cluttered environment are keeping those thoughts quarantined in your head.
Reconstructing home
Creativity is a ubiquitous facet of life, the lifeblood of all things new and of how we respond to them. But the challenges we face are not simply changes in routine. These should tickle your brain, forcing you to think outside of that boring box.
Even in a world that is all out of shape, we are wired to adapt.
Maybe, at least for this one, we can find some sense in what the president said in what felt like decades ago, “Ikot-ikot muna kayo sa bahay n’yo baka may hindi pa kayo napupuntahan.” But “home” wasn’t just the single-story abode you call the place you reside in. Home also meant building the “space” your mind always needed.
Try spring cleaning your study area, redecorating, repainting one side of the wall, adding new décor, purchasing a snake plant or a viney devil’s ivy, or DIY your way through things. Open up the windows for natural light or get one of those fairy lights to hang on your wall. Maybe try working in different corners of the house with music to match the mood. You can put on some ambient sounds and start a work day with tea or coffee or just take a day off to yourself.
Creating a physical environment that puts you at ease and makes you feel safest will be that extra kick to get your creativity streaming again.
Serendipity. Structure? Spontaneity? To each, his own.
Where you are matters. Much of what we experience outside limns the state of what’s inside. And now that we are left to our own devices, it is up to each one to deconstruct or reconstruct their environment — color, sound, lighting, and the arrangement of every object in your home because home is also the place that shelters your soul, cradles your thoughts and emotions.
So, when you come face to face with circumstances that just do not sit well with you or leave you pummeled, let creativity take the helm. You are not just coping, you are adapting; getting better, not just getting by.
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