How I Protected My Creative Energy

The results of my Seven Days of Silence Experiment

When something unexplained is wrong with your physical health, doctors will often prescribe an elimination diet to seek out the cause of your distress. As it turns out, you can do that with your emotional health & creativity as well.

At the beginning of April, I embarked on my Seven Days of Silence in an attempt to see if my bad mood, lack of ability to write well, and negative self-talk stemmed from something I was doing (my environment), rather than a medical or psychological issue.

I began the experiment on a Thursday and ended it the following Wednesday, the day of my dog’s surgery. (She’s doing great, btw). And I’m happy to report that I stuck to the rules the whole time, only using YouTube for ambient sound videos (mostly Harry Potter themed) and I listened to two audiobooks that had been sitting on my phone for more than a year.

By eliminating the constant noise I was intentionally subjecting myself to (under the guise of needing background noise), I was able to find the root caus…