Allow Yourself To Create And See What Happens
I have read lots of articles on finding oneself and discovering who you are and quite honestly I don’t think I can definitively say I have found it. I am still on that journey. I, however, came across this book that gave me a different perspective on the discovery of creativity.
The famous photographer Chase Jarvis has written a book called “Creative Calling” which I absolutely recommend. In this book, he gives his readers steps on how they can start their own creative path with trust in themselves and without judgement . He explains creativity as
“..the practice of combining or rearranging two or more unlikely things in new and useful ways”
We are all tuned to want to see the whole picture from the beginning. For instance, if I invest in this, how much do I get in the end. Chase on the other hand says that we do not have to see the whole path. We can plan for just the next step and then when we reach there, plan for the subsequent step.
Never have the horizon beyond the one you can see.
Embarking on the creativity journey
I took the advise and here I am writing this article. I have have just started the journey and it is still a bit scary but the important step is that I have started. Fear is a part of the process. Do it despite the fear.
Fear is a gift …Your primitive “reptile brain” is there to protect you…You can’t reason with it; it learns through action. But if you take action despite the fear and survive, it learns a tiny lesson.
Just start
Another advise he gives is to just start. You don’t have to be 100% ready or wait for certain conditions to be met to begin. If you don’t know what you passion or craft is, the question you need to ask yourself is..
What would you be excited to try?
If you have many ideas of expressing your creativity, pick one or two and hold off the rest. After you have identified it and started; work at your craft daily. Keep working at it daily until you make it.
Take risks
As is human nature, we fear rejection and would much rather hide than share our creativity which feels like revealing an image of ourselves. Chase advises separating the work we make from ourselves. For instance, you can make a bad piece of artwork without having to be a bad artist.
Failure is part of the journey. Embrace failure and learn from it. Take calculated risks, meaning you should weigh the pros and cons of each risk.
There is no reason to hide. Be bold. Take smart risks. Embrace failure like an old friend.
Take action
Once you have identified what you want to do. Make a plan. Break down the goal to small actionable items then work on them one by one. Show up for yourself to do the work everyday or in whatever frequency you can handle then make small incremental improvements. Do it then keep doing it, making it better each time. Before you know it, you have become a master at it.
Creativity needs practice. So working on your goal each day will help you develop the necessary skills for your chosen creative path. Keep learning even once you have mastered it.
Accept that it might suck sometimes
At some point you might what you create might suck. Chase advises to “give yourself permission to suck”. Acceptance goes a long way in helping you not to dwell too much on it. Move past it and keep creating.
Those early failures are good for gaining skills on how to do better next time and how to manage success when it comes.
I am still on the journey and learning. I encourage you to just start and see where the journey takes you.
