Being creative and what to do with your creativity is something I think about and talk about quite a lot. But even before you start thinking about the ‘how’ , you have to believe that you are creative in the first place. People often say to me, ‘Oh, I’m not creative.’ When I hear that, it both saddens and angers me because all humans are creative beings. Our creativity is one of the main things to differentiate us from the rest of the animal kingdom. Our creativity comes from our unique ability to be conscious of our thoughts, of the very fact that we have thoughts, and to imagine. We all can do that, if we believe we can.
The NY Times ran an excellent ‘primer’ on being creative called How To Be Creative, published on January 16 2020, and written by Matt Richtel. The first rule: Give yourself permission.
You can read the rest of this (short) article here.
I think many people are told from a young age either that they are not creative, or that what they create is no good and they therefore retreat from it. Maybe today’s schooling is better than it used to be in that respect. I hope it is.
I also think that some folk have a tendency to give up if it isn’t going well. That’s a little judgmental maybe, but I have spoken with people who having had the creative impulse, don’t always realise how much further hard work goes into producing something from that impulse and then honing it into something more. If they then don’t get the encouragement they perhaps need, they don’t necessarily follow it through. We must have lost countless unfinished pieces of art, music, literature and so on, because of this.
Absolutely! And it’s not a viewpoint which is often said out loud. I think I’ll go write a blog about it…..