Why Creativity Thrives in Chaos
There’s a myth that creativity lives in clarity. That in order to make something brilliant, you have to be calm, well-rested, well-organised, emotionally balanced, and in control of your life.
I believed that myth for a long time.
Until I started noticing something strange:
Some of my most original, raw, honest work didn’t come from balance.
It came from the brink.
Not despite the chaos, but because of it.
Creativity Isn’t Clean… It’s Disruptive by Nature
We often imagine creativity as a gentle, flowing process, light streaming through a window, paintbrush in hand, ideas clicking neatly into place. But if you’ve actually been inside a creative mind (especially one that’s neurodivergent, mentally ill, or chronically burnt out), you’ll know:
Creativity is not polite.
It’s messy.
Unpredictable.
Demanding.
Disobedient.
It doesn’t wait for a clear schedule. It crashes in at 3AM. It interrupts deadlines. It hijacks to-do lists. And it thrives in the gaps, the fractures in logic, the tension of contradiction, the uncomfortable unknown.
Chaos Makes Space for Originality
When everything is ordered, we tend to repeat what’s known. We stick to what’s safe. What works. What looks like what others have already done. But chaos (emotional, mental, physical) breaks those systems down. Suddenly:
We’re not filtering ideas through logic anymore
We’re not editing ourselves mid-thought
We’re not playing by aesthetic rules
We’re reacting.
We’re feeling.
We’re channeling.
And that’s where originality lives, not in perfection, but in presence. Not in control, but in chaotic aliveness.
Designing During Mania: A Raw Creative Surge
There are episodes (seasons even) in my life when my bipolar disorder tips me into mania. It’s not glamorous. It’s not healthy. It’s not a “creative superpower” and yet…
There’s an undeniable truth I can’t ignore. In those moments of intensity (rapid thought, hypersensitivity, emotional rawness) creative downloads happen. I’ve designed entire brand systems in hours. Written captions, concepts, colour palettes that feel channelled from somewhere deeper than my conscious mind. Ideas that feel like lightning: uncontainable, unfiltered, undeniable.
Of course, I burn out afterwards.
Of course, it comes at a cost.
But in the storm, there’s truth.
And sometimes, the truth is more powerful than anything I could’ve created in calm.
The Beauty of Breaking
Then there are the times when the storm isn’t productive. When I’m not manic, but fried. Burnout. Exhaustion. Executive dysfunction. Numbness.
You’d think that creativity disappears here but I’ve learnt something unexpected. When I surrender to the burnout (and really stop fighting it) something gentle returns.
The need to express, not impress.
The desire to make something just for me.
The relief of creating without agenda.
Sometimes it’s a scribble in a notebook. Sometimes it’s designing something no one will ever see. Sometimes it’s writing out a caption I’ll never post.
But in that non-performative creativity, that imperfect, chaotic, purely human making… I find myself again.
Experimentation Requires Uncertainty
Creativity isn’t a formula. It’s an experiment.
And experimentation requires one thing: uncertainty.
You don’t make something new by knowing it’ll work. You make something new by trying it anyway. That’s what chaos gives us. It removes the safety net. When everything feels unpredictable, we’re more likely to:
Try weird colour combos
Break the grid
Scrap the rules
Trust our instincts
Say what we really mean
We stop asking, “Will this perform well?” and start asking, “What if I just made this… because I need to?” That’s where the real stuff lives.
Chaos Isn’t a Strategy… But It IS a Season
Let me be clear:
I’m not saying we should chase chaos, glorify mental illness, or romanticise suffering.
Burnout needs healing. Mania needs care. Uncertainty needs grounding.
But I am saying that when chaos arrives (as it inevitably does) it’s not the enemy of creativity. It can be a portal. A portal into:
Truer ideas
Wilder risks
Deeper truths
Softer stories
The goal isn’t to avoid chaos forever. The goal is to listen to what it’s trying to tell you and create from there.
If you’re in a chaotic season right now - mentally, emotionally, or creatively - you’re not broken.
You’re becoming.
You don’t have to wait until you’re “better” or “calmer” to make art. You don’t have to wait until your business is perfect to create something real. You don’t have to wait until the fog clears to write the caption, choose the colour, launch the thing.
Let your chaos teach you.
Let it move through your work.
Let it show you what’s underneath the rules you’ve been following.
Because sometimes, the most alive, most original, most authentic things we create…
Are the ones born in the mess.
