Innovation Grief in Creative Industries
To Reconnect With Your 'Creative Why' ~ The First Step Is Often An Ending
Culture Futurist® Field Notes on Wonder, Outside the Box. By Theo Edmonds Founder, Creativity America | Bridging Creative Industries and Brain Science with Future of Work & Wondervation™
I’ve come to see the accelerating professional demands for constant innovation in creative industries as a type of spiritual journey. When individual and collective aspirations align in the pursuit of transformation and discovery, creatives are imbued with a sense of purpose that transcends the ordinary. We can locate ourselves in a quantum, evergreen story where our professional endeavors connect to broader narratives of economic, cultural, and societal progress.
But what about when we are feeling out of alignment? When the creative companies in which we work rapidly set and fail to meet transformational goals? This leads to what I’ve termed "innovation grief," where creative professionals mourn the failure to achieve and the loss of the identity tied to these achievements. Over time, this grief can accumulate, leading to a creative workforce that is emotionally depleted and less able to sustain the creative growth that markets demand.
Innovation grief speaks to the deep, often unspoken sense of loss that accompanies a company's rapid changes. In the creative industries, the changes are compounded by the many accelerating technological advancements and cultural shifts actively reshaping what it means to be a creative professional in 2024 and beyond.
Identities, methods, and processes that once defined our profession are evolving so quickly that many feel disoriented and struggle to keep up. This rapid change often creates a sense of loss for the familiar, even as new opportunities emerge. Creative professionals, in particular, face the challenge of balancing nostalgia for past innovations with the relentless pressure to reinvent themselves for an uncertain future.
This feeling of loss is not simply about the demise of old tools or outdated methods; it goes deeper, touching the very core of how creators perceive their work, their value, and their place in the world. Innovation grief is the emotional response to the uncertainty that comes when the creative world we once knew slips away. In many cases, it is coupled with a sense of exhaustion—not just from the creative work itself but from the relentless pressure to stay relevant in an industry that seems to demand constant evolution.
Yet, in acknowledging this grief, we find an opportunity. Grief, after all, is not just about loss; cognitive neuroscience has established that it’s also about learning and adapting. It is a process of moving through uncertainty and change, where something new—something potentially even more profound—can emerge. The key, then, lies in how we respond to these moments of upheaval. In this context, stillness, reflection, and reconnection with one’s core creative identity become vital tools for navigating the emotional turbulence accompanying transformation.
Through creative rest and courageous reflection, we can find new ways to re-enter the light, dissolving the distractions and allowing us to rediscover our “creative why.”
CROSSING OVER TO SAME
By Theo Edmonds
Prelude:
Think momentarily and locate the memory of one of your most peaceful mornings. Can you picture yourself lying there? Eyes newly open. One hand gently spread over the bed’s edge. Just being in creative rest. Looking at sunlight rising from a window, slowly stretching across the room until it touched your hand. Remember it. Perhaps even recall finding harmony in the rebellious act of pausing? Remember how it was to SEE the light even before you could FEEL the warmth of the sun as it took your hand?
Being still can sometimes become the hardest thing we will ever try to do.
In searching through memories, some fond and some fallen Seas I’ve crossed over, paths trod down More and more, my searching seems easier As more of me, I also have found. In restless mind games, I gave myself over Over in mind, but mostly in game. Games of a restless mind that kicked hard, was trodden Fallen. Downtrodden. Crossing over to same. Preaching politics were leaping wild lizards. They fetched my muses and leaped from my song. They preached power, nostalgic wildness in creatures Lizards leaped out and carried my muses along They froze me in midstep; they lifted all knowing The knowing now gone turned my heart into game More and more turning. Again, I was searching. Hurting. Ferocious. Crossing over to same. I heard whistled a music of laughter left lurching Perched for the poachers to bag in their sacks. Piled-up sacks of music. Lizards lurching with mindless mad laughter. Poaching all joy to put a poet's memories in rack. Racked up and restless, the triangle sat waiting. For cue ball and hard stick to break open its game Games of lizards that play wild with a memory Weary the poets, Crossing over the same. Then the sight of light whispered. Rest now, weary restless, Give no stardust to lizards. In stillness, those lizards, Dissolve into shadow. Their power starts fading, When you reclaim your song. Even downtrodden, Your winding carries within it An inherited power. Being still is how you claim it. It's your surest way to move on. And be assured, poet, Your journey moves you toward a purposeful place, Where poachers will find a cold lonely calling. Where, though ramshackle, is still a hearth, Casting treasured warm flame. Courageous Imagination calls you To rest for a while, poet. Even without your helping hand Trust that your moment Stands strong and sturdy. Even in your stillness, The cosmos ever hums its quantum creation Birthing wonder-full worlds That are unknown and hidden to those too loud to notice. Stillness is our teacher For how to let go, listen and open. When we’re open and ready Light always reaches toward us. In stillness is wisdom. Light eases pain. Call it now. Gently. All that you seek, Already stretches toward you. No need for more burning. No more wild chasing. No more out there, hard-looking. Light waits for your calling. Call it. Be still. Cross over to same.
Theo Edmonds, Culture Futurist® & Founder, Creativity America | Bridging Creative Industries and Brain Science with Future of Work & Wondervation™
©2024 Theo Edmonds | All Rights Reserved. Please credit the author when using any of this content. The views expressed above are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of any organization with which the author is affiliated.