For a long time, I didn’t let myself create for fun. I grew up thinking there were generally two types of people in the world: creative people and non-creative people. I cringe even writing that, because I know now how flawed that thinking is, but for whatever reason(s), that’s what I thought.
Being told I was a numbers person as I got older caused me to then jump to the conclusion that I belong in the latter camp of people, and it’s taken me a solid 23 years to realize what a mistake it was to assume that, and to make strides to reverse it.
I’ve realized that just because our name isn’t Picasso or Monet, and we don’t have a career in the arts, doesn’t mean that we can’t grow our artistic muscles and discover what creativity means to us.
I’ve only recently been allowing myself to explore what creativity looks like to me, and it’s been really eye-opening. Turns out I like to write. Who knew?
Am I the best writer? No. I’m not even a great writer. But writing for fun makes me feel like I’m doing something good. Like I’m fulfilling some sort of purpose, and making something of value, even if the value is just simply me having an avenue for me to get my thoughts on paper.
I think it’s because we’re all creative beings. We were created in the image of a creating God, and just as God creates, so should we. And it can look different for everyone. Writing (articles, poems, songs), drawing, gardening, photography, painting, building, dancing… the sky’s the limit.
I think it would do us a lot of good to all find a hobby that allows us to create, and to then allow ourselves to pursue that hobby without putting pressure on ourselves to become the best at it. In a society that gets so caught up in goals (myself included), for once we should allow ourselves to just do something for the sheer joy of doing it, and for the way that it allows us to explore, understand, and get to know ourselves and other people.