What are you creating? Don't miss out on this vital part of being human

One of the ironies of being an adult is that we can take our hard-earned experience and use it…against ourselves. Sometimes we look at what we’ve done and then limit our possibilities rather than expand them.

            Case in point: Squeamishness over trying some new thing, especially something “creative.”

            We find all kinds of reasons not to do something new and different. But we’re missing out when we forgo our drive to create new things. 

            I look at kids and I see them working on all kinds of new projects, new ways of seeing, new ways of learning. They don’t know how to knit, but they pick up needles and, after a bit of instruction, they’re whipping out scarves and mittens for everyone they know.

            Or they’re putting their whole hands in a gob of paint and moving it around on a page and are as pleased as can be with the result.

            Kids learn how to cook, how to sew, how to sing, how to dance. They learn how to jump and tumble and balance and sprawl. I’m not saying that there’s never any hesitation with kids, sure there is. But kids are open to figuring out something new. Children haven’t built up the stockpile of reasons why they can’t do something.

            It’s only as we get older that we start to hear the things that adults say regularly.

            “Oh, I can’t do that.”

            “That’s not my thing.”

            “I’m not creative.”

            Not creative? Really?

            It seems more likely that you’ve just forgotten how. It’s easy enough to forget. Life is busy and we get into routines and one day starts to seem a lot like the next. We humans love our routines. And while routines can be excellent for stability, they can also gum up the works of our creative side. Even something that seems inherently creative—writing, cooking, building—can be done by rote.

            But when we break out of our routines, when we allow ourselves to feel and think differently, when we go to the places that seem dark and unfamiliar in our minds, then we’ll find out the truth of the matter: Our creativity is pleading to be fed.

            When we quell those voices in our heads that insist we can’t do something…well, then everything changes. Then who knows what we can do?

            There is also a voice that says, “Yes, I can do that.” We just have to find it and tease it out and give it a comfortable spot to grow in. Shine some light on that thought. Give it some air, some room to move around.

            We all have a creative spark. We can live our lives so that we fan this spark into a full fire, or we can shut it down and live a paint-by-the-numbers life.

            But people who push themselves into new places tend to live more fulfilling, more productive, more engaged lives. When we figure out how to shake things up, to try new things, to not worry about “looking stupid,” we find out that life is pretty fun.

            So try something different today. Take a new route to work. Walk instead of drive. Create a vision of what a loved one will be like when she’s old.See a loved one as an old person. Imagine a difficult person as a baby. Speak up in a meeting. Be quiet at the dinner table. Pull out your paints, your guitar, your garden plans. Plant something completely frivolous.

            Look around you and notice the amazing things that human beings create. You are a human being. What makes you think you have any less to give?