Creativity, to me, used to be a word I thought only applied to what others could do. I  never felt that I was much of an artist or a craftsman at anything at all. My art was ridiculous. My writing was atrocious, and anything else I tried to make was a mockery of anything called perfection. With this attitude, I started this journey of creation — shortening the space between myself and the world.

That is what it has been about for me. To find my place in the world and to interject my thoughts out to the world. My creation of ideas of what makes me understand myself and maybe find my place in the world. Creativity started for me as something to do but has become my identity. If you read my writing, you will know everything about my philosophy, ideas, and personal growth. You have to pay attention and listen to what I say. Some see the surface of my thought, the thin veneer of understanding. Look underneath, and you will find the truth. No One ever has.

Call of Creativity

For many years I didn’t create much of anything. I was only very rarely artistic, and I did it mockingly. I would mock what I made, lest anyone think I tried, and ridicule my creations first. Suddenly life started putting me into situations where I had to create all the time. Writing, graphic design, and newspaper layouts all needed to be thought out and organized. It was a nice feeling to see the well of potential that existed inside of me. Where did it come from? Where could it go?

There is something sensationally beautiful about looking at a thing that never existed before until it came out of your mind and into existence. It could be a catchy slogan or a graphic design, a story you wrote, or a thought you captured and wrote down for the world to read. I still get the same feeling of awe today when I write something new — creating a short little blurb about a thought I have evolved in my mind. When something wasn’t there before, now it is, only because you tapped into your talent. These things make life great.

Being Creative

Being creative is the most life-affirming thing there is on the planet. It doesn’t matter what you make or how you do it; it is still fascinating. I find myself in admiration of other creations all the time. Even if it isn’t anything, I know anything about. Some people create DIY projects that are amazingly clever. Others bake delicious foods. Neither of these things I would want to do, but I appreciate the creativity and passion the authors display in their quest to create well.

When you look at someone’s art, you see their true self. Again it shines through in the colors, the lines, the tone, and overall presentation. You have to look under the surface to see the joy, sorrow, kindness, worry, or whatever emotions are brewing in a person’s life. I have known strangers through their writing better than some people I have known all my life. Try it sometime, look at what someone creates, and see the story behind it.

Creativity Soothes and Heals

You don’t have to look very far to see all of the healing that creativity provides. I read many writings that people create to help them process a crisis they have gone through or are experiencing today. A loss, a defeat, a wrong suffered, all of these produce pain and emotions, and creativity allows them to express these frustrations and to deal with them in a way that builds the individual up after a challenging circumstance rather than let whatever happened to the win.

When your soul needs to speak, it does it through the language of creativity in music, art, or writing. Whatever the medium or method of your heart may be, that is the language it speaks. You were hurt, disappointed, sad, devastated, joyous, triumphant, or experiencing any other emotion. I remember watching a play and seeing the connection between the joint creativity of the work’s writing and the actors’ creative display. It provides the magic, and that magic lives inside of each of us.

Why I Create

Creativity crept up on me, and I had no choice as I started to realize how powerful a substance it is. Whether it is a graphic, a story, a thought, a blog post, a poorly drawn picture, or anything else, creating things has become an expression of my soul. I speak loudly, wondering if anyone can hear and to be ready to listen to their returning call. Yes, I see your humanity. I am here too.

I feel like I don’t have a choice now, that if I don’t build something or construct it somehow, I am going to cease to exist, or my voice, as frail as it may be, will be snuffed out before what I have to say has been heard by anyone. I try to speak every day to get it all out for the world.

There are people with great talent and people with great passion, and I applaud them all, but I find it hard to believe that anyone can get the joy out of merely creating that I feel in my soul when I write from the heart. Like walking through freshly fallen snow or making footprints on a once unmarked beach of sand, it is like you are the first to think of those things and put them on paper.

Your Turn Now

If you have read this far, then it is now your turn. I challenge you to create in your life. It doesn’t matter what it is. Draw if that is what you do. Cook and bake if that is how your essence displays to the world. Every soul has the power to create something that can only come from you, so find it, build it, and release it to the world. It is your duty to yourself.

“Every child is an artist, the problem is staying an artist when you grow up” – Pablo Picasso.

“If you hear a voice within you say, ‘You cannot paint,’ then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced” – Vincent Van Gogh.

“Have no fear of perfection, and you’ll never reach it” – Salvador Dali.

“Curiosity about life in all of its aspects, I think, is still the secret of great creative people” – Leo Burnett.

“Imagination is the beginning of creation. You imagine what you desire, you will find what you imagine, and at last, you create what you will” – George Bernard Shaw.

“Think left and think right and think low and think high. Oh, the thinks you can think up if only you try” – Dr. Seuss.