Creativity Is My Favourite Mind-Altering Substance

It's cheap, healthy and easily accessible at any age

Two variations of my cupcake painting

I delicately shade the bottom of a cupcake with a fine brush of paint. There's no need or desire for my mind to wander. What I'm doing requires all my concentration, and I'm happy to give it. Time has ceased to exist, and so has the world outside this painting. I'm in flow, and it's wonderful.

A loud motorbike vrooms by outside. It coincides with a pigeon startling me by skimming uncomfortably close to the window pane.

"That pigeon was revving its ass off!"

It seemed like a perfectly natural thought for a few seconds until my rational, everyday mind caught up. Then I laughed at myself. You know things will be OK when you can still laugh at yourself.

I captured the moment in one of the comic strips I produced when I first stopped drinking alcohol. I suppose you could say I used the mind-altering properties of creativity to help me leave behind another more problematic mind-altering substance.

One of my old comic strips

Creative flow is such an enchanting state that I wish everybody could experience it. I started most of my recent projects, including this Substack, to spread my love for it. I've been blessed to regularly spend time in flow since childhood, usually having something creative on the go that was challenging enough to demand my concentration without being beyond my capabilities — the perfect balance to induce flow.

Drawing and painting have been most effective at stimulating flow for me, particularly adding the subtle nuances of shading. There's something magical about the way my imagination can command the fine motor control of my hand. My pencil swishes around a page to invisible barriers that exist only in my mind, and new shapes and shades are born.

My focus is so absolute that there's no space for mental wandering. If distractions creep in, my hand-eye connection is broken, and I'll make a mistake. It sounds like a lot of pressure, but it's nice pressure. People talk about reaching flow when they're rock climbing, and I can believe it. In a way, they're similar activities — total concentration is required with no room for error. But if I balls it up, I make a stray pencil mark, not fall off a cliff. Kudos to the climbers, but it's each to their own.

Creativity is cheaper and more accessible than other mind-altering substances, and it's a damn sight healthier. Even a simple ballpoint pen and notebook can become an impromptu canvas. I doodled this ball when I hit a wall with some writing the other day.

Some of my spontaneous doodles

It's pretty messy, and the shadow points in the wrong direction, but that's OK. I try not to let perfection get in the way of good enough. What matters is that the few minutes of drawing pulled me back into flow, making it easier to go back to my writing.

Colouring is another simple flow-inducing activity. I produced four adult colouring books in 2024 but forgot how relaxing they can be until I filmed myself colouring to promote them. It's the perfect level of challenge (to stay within the fine lines) without being intimidating.

I've had some heart-warming feedback from people who have found my books helpful when facing mental health challenges, particularly anxiety. We can find a much-needed respite from day-to-day struggles in the peace and focused stillness of flow. I'm no stranger to overthinking and anxiety, so I'm beyond grateful to be able to help soothe these through something I've created.

The colouring books I published in 2024

Even though I specialise in creativity, I love how many different ways exist to get into flow. I remember being a small child and watching my mum go into a flow state while knitting. I can still hear the clack of her needles and smell the cigarette smoke that surrounded her. She'd smoke one hands-free, squinting through the clouds to supervise her nimble fingers.

My dad still works with wood in his nineties. A friend writes code and does long runs and bike rides while his wife finds her flow in their garden. I write, illustrate, design patterns, and listen to and make music. Another friend walks her dogs in nature while her husband-to-be performs in a band.

How do you find your flow?