Confinement & Creativity

I'm in confinement like more than three billion other people around the world. One of the things which struck me the most about this unique period is how quickly my mindset changed. Since mid-March, when confinement was enforced in France, and other places around the world, I've noticed that I'm generally in a much more creative mindset. I'm constantly bombarded with new ideas for new projects, businesses, artistic endeavors, and so on.

Creativity is a function of evolution. From a purely evolutionary point of view, creativity is how species are able to adapt to new problems and environments. The entirety of human civilization and culture emerged from creativity, and most of what we know came from a creative process.

The fact that I feel more creative at this time is an interesting reflection on my own state of being. I live a relatively stable life. I have a steady income, access to all basic necessities (and a fair amount of luxuries), excellent healthcare, and can travel practically anywhere with relative ease. Rarely is this stability challenged in any substantial way?

So what is it about confinement, and the risk of instability, which has unlocked all this creativity? Are we tuned this way as human beings, and is this an evolutionary trait? It certainly seems that like a general trend. Look around. Creativity is everywhere. People are finding solutions to problems big and small, seemingly out of nowhere, which just a few weeks ago appeared impossible to surmount.

I think it's also a good time to think about how we can remain in a somewhat perpetual state between chaos and stability. This goes back to Nassim Taleb's notion of anti-fragility. As the crisis fades and we return to some stability, how will we, as individuals and collectively, ensure that we can remain in this constant creative state?