Love Yourself – Be Creative

Hmmm … creative?

Creative? Me?

Maybe you believe that the only people who are actually qualified to be creative are writers, painters, sculptors, graphic designers and others along those lines who create art. Maybe you also believe that one has to be a least a little excentric or mad to be good at it. And there is a grain of truth in this – I’m allowed to say that since I’m also a writer.

Except I wouldn’t want to call it madness. Being creative simple is the ability to bend the rules we live with somewhat, or tip them over at times. Because we learned what a “real” painting has to look like and what kind of story a “real” book is supposed to tell, or how a “real” poem has to sound like. And in addition, we have this picture of the starving artist in mind who only lives for his or her creativity.

And that would simply be too much. That’s too high a price to pay for being creative.

However, there is an entirely different way to connect to your creativity: Tune in to your inner child. Children haven’t bridled their creativity yet, they haven’t tuned it down or stuffed it away in a far corner. So just be honest with yourself: Wouldn’t it be fun to squeeze some play-do into funny shapes? Or just throw some watercolors on a piece of paper and watch how they mix? How about playing with some words and seeing how many rhymes you can come up with? Just for the heck of it?

That’s how it could start with you.

It was a little different with me. I started seeing pictures in my mind, of a young, brave knight, his magical sword and a heroic deed. And they remained there, pushing me to write them out. After about a month of struggling with them, I gave in and started typing, depite having carpal tunnel syndrome at that time. When I was 30 pages in after the first day, I knew something bigger was lurking around the corner. Those glimpses became my first novel.

These days, writing is part of my life, and I feel bad if I don’t write stories for a while.  (I still have to force myself to make time for that, though.) I’m really glad I listened to that part of my mind that was telling me the stories. And in fact, my carpal tunnel got much better on its own.

I firmly believe that everyone has a creative side. We just ended up denying that part of ourselves when we grew up, believing that we’re not good enough, don’t have the time, or don’t deserve to listen to that inner voice whispering about doing something just for ourselves. Denying this is a sad thing.

Because I also believe that creativity allows us to reach deeply inside of ourselves and bring out a true and important part. And it’s a part that really gives us access to huge amounts of energy and fun. That’s why I want to encourage you to discover and allow your creative talents. And there are no limits! It could be anything from dancing wildly to rock music or quietly arranging leaves on the ground and taking pictures of them.

I show another – very imperfect – creative part of me every time I post a blog post with those little drawings at the top. That’s because I want to model imperfect action for you, and inspire you to allow your creativity to come up and show itself.

And here’s some tapping for you to make it easier:

Even though I can’t believe that I might have a creative streak in me, I’m okay the way I am and I now allow myself to look for it.

Even though I actually might be somewhat creative, but definitely not good enough for anyone to see, I’m okay the way I am and now allow myself to know it’s not about being good enough at all.

Even though I feel very insecure about my creativity, I’m okay the way I am and I now allow myself to simply have fun!

So what did you choose to do to try out your creativity? Please share it in the comments, so that other readers can get inspired.

(And my pen name is Hannah Steenbock.)

Image source: F. Moebius