“Every child is an artist, the problem is staying an artist when you grow up.” – Pablo Picasso
What the heck am I going to do with all this crap?!! As I sit at my desk I stare at the piles of bike parts, buttons, randomly found objects, various types of glue and lots and lots of scrap paper.
I am going to make stuff.
Like a mini bike out of bike chain; an ornament out of yarn, twine, wire, and a bike gear; a pin out of feathers and buttons; or a pendant out of more bike parts (yeah I love bike parts ok?) and a stone. So why am I telling you all this in a blog about wellbeing? Because expressing your creativity is another type of health food–and one we cannot afford to live without.
Expressing our creativity in our own unique way is good for our health and overall well being is as simple as us all being human. Without creativity the human race would have died off along time ago, as we never would have figured out how to make a spear to hunt, create fire or fashion clothes out of found objects for protection and warmth. Our lives would not be what they are now without the ability to create tablets that we can use to communicate with people across the globe in less than a second, eat elaborate and tasty meals and have access to infinite amount of information on our phones. Creativity is in our genes, in our innate humanness.
School may have trained you to think that only some people are creative, only those that can draw or paint. However this is not true. Everyone has creativity within them, but not everyone has nurtured it, allowed it to surface, are aware of it and/or made time for it to develop.
So why do it? Because we are fueled by creativity. It gives us energy and enthusiasm for life. I know when I am in the middle of a creative project I dont think about food, the TV shows I have missed, what other people are doing or anything that was bothering me before. I am often 100% in the present. And as many of us know, the present is a pretty great place to be and a place where stress doesn't exist.
What happens when we don't express our creativity?
we get bored (then we eat)
we get depressed (we eat some more)
we get restless (and eat again)
Which equals a grumpy, negative, overweight, low energy version of yourself and that's no fun for anyone.
How do you develop your creativity?
Make time for it. Even 5 minutes of just thinking about creating something will help. Without giving it space how will it grow?
Acknowledge when you are already being creative. At work with a project, cleaning the house or walking down the street (yes, you can creatively walk down the street) are all perfect times to recognize your creativity. This fuels that creative fire and encourages it to keep coming.
Allow yourself to be inspired by others. Instead of putting yourself down for not being able to create like them yourself, allow for their art be an inspiration.
Steal others ideas and make it your own. All the best artists do. It's all one consciousness anyways, right?
Let go of the idea that whatever you make has to be perfect. No one has to ever see what you create. Expressing your creativity is about you, your health and your happiness. Focus on the creative process as opposed to the end result.
Ready, set, create! Who knows what you will end up with??