Creativity. Today I wanted to talk about this glorious topic. Why do I create? What does it mean for and to me? And, how and why I’ve started to incorporate it into my daily life (mostly, thanks to the beautiful Samantha Wills’ work*). I also want to throw some ideas out there:
Now, before you click out of this post – yep that’s right, I can already hear you saying, “I don’t have a creative bone in my body!”, I urge you to read on a bit further.
Why is it that we tend we only think of creativity as being something artistic? Like painting, drawing, dancing or singing etc. I’ll admit it, I am guilty of following this school of thought until recently when my eyes and heart were opened to a bit of ‘creative’ thinking. And I can say, I am so grateful that they were both opened.
Here’s the thing; creativity can be so many things. It can be, and is, different to different people. It certainly shouldn’t be stereotyped and pigeonholed, because then it becomes perceived as an exclusive thing that only creatives have the privilege of enjoying. We definitely shouldn’t be denying ourselves the opportunity to feel the freedom, joy and accomplishment of creating. These feel-good, mood-boosting, bored-busting, comparison-killing, stress-relieving practices need to be available to each and every one of us.
Today, I challenge you to think differently about what exactly creativity is to YOU. Get ‘creative’ if you will (yes, that pun was intentional) and think outside the box or inside the box. What is something you already love doing, or something you haven’t done in ages that can be classed as creative, or is creative, but you just never thought of it that way? What is something new you can try?
Here is my own example: doodling, yes that’s right. Just scribbling on a page as I sit in a meeting, am listening to music or a lecture or while I’m on conference call. I never used to think of this as true creativity until recently when two things happened to make me think differently. I discovered some old school workbooks from when I was a teenager that I had doodled on and turned into artworks. At least, to me, seeing them 20 odd years on, they became pretty impressive. Or maybe that’s just a product of as we get older, we become less critical of and more loving towards ourselves. But I’ll save that conversation for another day. I also discovered an artist whose art is literally doodles: “Mr Doodle”. This, in some way, gave me the permission I needed to validate my own doodling as creativity. You can check him out here: https://www.instagram.com/mrdoodle/
So here are a few things on my list to help you get some ideas for yourself.
This list has nothing to do with what I am actually good at. In fact far from it, I can assure you. I have two left feet and am completely tone deaf and my hubby will attest to this. The list also doesn’t only include traditional artistic or creative outlets. This is key to uncovering your own creativity and in turn being able to reap the rewards of classing yourself as creative.
I have now dug out my paints and my beads to start those pursuits up again. I had almost packed away what I classified as my creativity, and once I started to shift the way I thought about this, I realised that I haven’t packed anything away, I have just been, being creative in other ways. By viewing this concept in another way I was opened up to why?. Why I create? What it means to me, brings to my life and how I will keep incorporating it into my daily life.
And so, why?
Mainly because it’s fun and feels good, Marie Forleo says we should “create before you consume” and I could not agree more. Being creative helps me to become fully present and immersed in the activity I am doing; allowing me avoid mindless scrolling or other time-sapping activities that fuel comparison and self doubt. Being creative is often physical, it occupies and requires me to use a part of my body; my hands, arms or my maybe my legs. It is also requires mental energy; using my mind or my brain in a different way. Because my list of creative pursuits isn’t only about the things I am good at it, helps free me from the comparison and the feeling that there has to be some kind of outcome or result. That, in itself, is liberating and pressure relieving. Lets face it, I’m sure no one else dances as poorly as I do, no one else draws exactly the way I do and no one’s slide show of their lives is going to look like mine. But that doesn’t make them or the process of doing them any less creative than Beyonce’s latest hit. These are things that I get to own, that I get to celebrate and that I get to produce, without any expectations. And that is why I believe that finding something creative you can do each day will bring great joy and a sense of accomplishment to your life.
So go on, uncage your inner creative genius!
Big love, Nikki x
** I was fortunate enough in the month of April, to be a part of Samantha Wills’ “Creative Entrepreneur’s Collective Workshop, 30 days of Creative Conversations”, I attribute and am thankful to this workshop for kickstarting and holding me accountable to ‘daily creativity’. Find her and other workshops at www.samanthawills.com
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