On Wednesdays, I share posts, fables, songs, poems, quotations, TEDx Talks, cartoons, and books that have inspired and motivated me on my writing journey. I hope these posts will give writers, artists, and other creatives a mid-week boost.
A long-time fan of bestselling author Claire Cook, I look forward to reading her monthly newsletter. Here’s an excerpt from her creativity self-help book,
Life Glows On:
Being creative is not about being discovered or getting famous or becoming rich or producing a mountain of award-winning work. Not that there’s anything wrong with those things, but I think they’re different goals altogether. Or at least add-ons, like extra cheese and guacamole.
Sometimes the creative goal or project is secondary to the creative journey it takes us on. Sometimes it’s all about the goal, and we just want the satisfaction of hitting that creative finish line.
One person’s creativity is not another person’s creativity. There are no rules. But even though I can’t find your creativity for you, the good news is you can find it for yourself.
Being creative is about touching hearts. It’s about finding our own heart. It’s about tapping into our past and remembering the unique experiences and insights that make us who we are. It’s about flipping our adversity and challenges and experiences into a point of view, a vision, a style, a voice. It’s about standing strong in our authenticity and individuality and distinctiveness.
Being creative is about reaching forward and seeing things in new ways. It’s about growing and learning new skills. It’s about sharing not only what we create but also how we create it, as a way of providing value to others, because we can, because we want to.
Creativity is a habit, a practice, a style of living. It’s a way to find and refine your story, to share what you have to share with the world. It’s a safe haven, a place that is always there for you when you need to get away from it all.
Once we decide to let creativity in, it’s ours. To find it, we don’t even have to click our ruby slippers like Dorothy did in The Wizard of Oz.
We simply have to keep doing creative things until creativity becomes a habit that enhances our life. Our creative pursuits can be as simple or as complicated as we want them to be. One way of being creative isn’t better than another way of being creative.
We can play. We can dabble away to our heart’s content. We can choose a goal and then put a structure in place to reach that goal. We can go the professional route and earn money from our creativity. We can shoot for the moon and go as big as we can go. Or keep it small and close. It’s up to us.
I think it’s basically a matter of finding the approach that suits our personality as well as our goals and priorities. One approach can eventually lead to another. Or not. It’s all about choice.
But thinking it through ahead of time and being intentional about the creative path we’re choosing, at least as a jumping off point, is important. It can make a huge difference in terms of both getting where we want to go and enjoying our journey along the way.
Joanne Guidoccio 