We talk a lot about — and often value — this thing we call "creativity."
We talk about the creativity of artists and musicians; we talk about creative writing; we talk about creative solutions to problems we face or obstacles we encounter at work. We even see "creative" used as a buzzword in sales pitches.
Calendula
For the longest time, I did not perceive myself as even remotely creative.
Whereas I grew up in a very "creative" family, the term "creativity" was exclusively applied to people who had some kind of artistic talent — painters, sculptors, musicians, poets — and anyone else was pretty much just regarded as some kind of "Muggle," navigating their way through life as best they could.
The fact that I turned to self-employment and started by own business at a fairly young age was perhaps seen as "daring," (and occasionally "foolhardy!") but definitely not "creative."
And so, I labored on through life, largely seeing myself as a not particularly creative individual.
When I allowed as how I was writing — and even getting published, here and there — it was more or less dismissed as "journalism," when I couldn't back it up by producing poetry or literature quality novels.
Spiral in the sand...
Now, in the greater scheme of things we might be tempted to dismiss what I am sharing here as neither particularly interesting or relevant to anything.
But the thing is... unless an individual has an extremely strong sense of self, the words of others tend to shape our self-perception, and — by extension — the choices we make.
On a more personal level, the result was that I spent many years largely avoiding any creative fields, jobs or projects on the assumption that I lacked the creative element needed to be part of them.
It was not until many years later — in my 40's — that I found myself at a workshop where one of the exercises was to explore our creativity. To be honest, I dreaded the entire idea, visualizing a latter-day visit to my horrible "art lumps" that came to life (and death!) when we were working with clay in crafts class during my grade school years!
Veins of a leaf...
From a more balanced perspective than my family-of-origin offered, creativity does cast a very wide net, and it's up to us — not somebody(s) else — to come up with the definitions we use.
I may not write poetry or literature, but I am a creative writer.
I may not be a Rembrandt or DaVinci, but I do enjoy painting mandalas on stones... and that's creative.
I may not be Ansel Adams, but I do come up with some pretty creative photographs.
I may not be Steve Jobs or Elon Musk, but I have come up with many creative solutions to my life.
And... in the end... my entire life is a pretty creative process because I make my own definitions, rather than just blindly following what has been done before.
Thanks for reading!
(Another #creativecoin creative non-fiction post)
What is YOUR definition of "creativity?" Comments, feedback and other interaction is invited and welcomed! Because — after all — SOCIAL content is about interacting, right? Leave a comment-- share your experiences-- be part of the conversation!
(As usual, all text and images by the author, unless otherwise credited. This is original content, created expressly for this platform.)
Created at 191202 10:45 PST
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