Intuitive Creatives Are Optimized for the New World

Are you an intuitive creative? Here’s why it’s your time to thrive.

I’m a synthesizer rather than an analyzer. Analysts take things apart, breaking them down into components in order to understand them. I do the opposite: I cull evidence from disparate sources and put it together to tell a story. I understand the world by recognizing patterns and seeing the big picture. 

At some point in the first decade of this century I began noticing social, political, and economic trends that pinged in my mind. They started to form a picture for me that told a story about transformation. Nothing can hold forever; I believed we were experiencing the beginnings of a period of tumultuous change that would most certainly cause tremendous upheavals. Secretly, I thought we were probably entering a phase of history somewhat like a new dark ages.

Many people are recognizing that COVID-19 will change our world forever. It already has. Life as it was before is over. But in fact, this process of change has already been going on for some time in all areas of our public lives. The increased polarization we are seeing around the world is part of this. People are feeling more anxiety and suspicion. And right now, it feels like the world has gone crazy. 

We will emerge from this latest challenge, but there will be more ahead. Make no mistake: we are entering a new world. It will hopefully bring positive change, but the process will be (and has already been) painful. What can we do? How can we survive these tumultuous, frightening times? If you are an intuitive creative, it may seem that your high sensitivity, empathic nature, and unconventionality make you maladapted to dealing with all this. In fact, the opposite is true. You are actually made for times like this. Here’s why.   

You saw it coming

I don’t mean you saw this exact thing coming (though maybe you did!). But like me, you probably have been feeling subterranean shifts for some time. Even if you haven’t consciously recognized what’s happening, you’ve experienced increased anxiety. You’ve intuitively understood that what we’ve come to take for granted about the way things work in the world may not hold true in the uncertain future. It’s important to understand that your anxiety is more than just a reaction to the times. It’s information. As an HSP, intuitive, and/or empath, you pick up on energies all around you. You see and feel things other people don’t. Pay attention to your impressions, and learn to trust them. 

You know that the best information comes from within you 

Sure, experts in various fields have much to teach us, and we should listen to them. But no one knows you better than you do. You are the foremost expert on yourself. Intuitives who trust themselves are powerful, because they don’t waste any more time than absolutely necessary parsing the constant stream of information and opinions we are all inundated with. They are able to immediately grasp the important facts, understand what they need to do for themselves, their loved ones, and their community, and take action. One of the most interesting qualities of highly sensitive intuitives is that while they may suffer from sometimes debilitating anxiety in daily life, in a crisis they can be the most incisive, calm, and rational people in the room.

You think outside of the outside of the box

Yes, you read that correctly. Not only are intuitive creatives unconventional in their perspectives and approaches to life, they are true original thinkers. So much so that they can even appear, well, crazy to other people. Even other unconventional thinkers. What makes it so difficult for us to find a place in society and its institutions is exactly what makes us exceptionally suited to times that are not normal. People who thrive within the structures of society tend to feel disoriented to the point of panic when these are upended. While intuitive creatives feel disoriented, too, they may also feel strangely energized. Don’t feel guilty about this! You feel this way because you are actually in your element during times like these. When the binding, punishing structures of society-as-it-was fall away, space opens up for you to not only come into your own, but to be appreciated in a way you have never been before.

What does this mean for you during these strange times? If you haven’t been feeling very confident about moving forward into the uncertain future, I encourage you to begin by appreciating the qualities I discuss above. Treat your anxiety as information – anxiety doesn’t feel good, but instead of focusing on the discomfort, interrogate what it’s telling you about your situation. Trust what you discover! Work on developing a respect for the special personal knowledge you generate. Manifest that in the outside world through action. In crazy times, what we need are creative solutions. What we need are “crazy” ideas. In the new world that’s coming, there will be space for those ideas, and for you.