I’ve always identified as a creative person. My younger self aspired to be an author and then a musician. I eventually gave up on these dreams because I felt like I was missing “the thing” that true creatives and artists have. I didn’t feel blessed by some innate talent or struck by some inspiring force. I didn’t feel like I had a voice or a story to share. While I enjoyed making music and writing and crafting with my hands, I didn’t feel like I had the skills or the talent to label myself as a musician, writer, or maker. What I produced never seemed very good and I thought that creative people were defined by the quality of their product.  

Eventually, I came to a point in my life where I started to give up all of the notions I had about what makes someone a creative. For the past three years, I have been on a path towards fulfilling my creative self. I have learned that a creative life is not one that is given, but earned. I have learned that the joy that comes from making lies not in the product, but the process. Creativity is a practice; it’s a muscle you have to flex regularly.

These lessons have transformed the way I look at and live my life. Because of these insights, I try to engage with the creative process in some small way each day. A little bit each day. I know that there is value in setting aside eight hours for yourself on a Sunday to stitch together fabric into garments that become part of how you present yourself to the world or to sit down with a knitting project and a cup of fancy coffee or disappear into a captivating novel. I know that this can provide a space to recharge and to reflect on yourself and the world around you. But I also know that a daily walk has more benefits for you than running a marathon once a month. A small consistent effort often has more benefit than something you do only once in a while. 

Why have I chosen creativity as a core value and why am I trying to live into it as much as possible?

Spending time with my creative self is my ultimate form of self care. Like the real kind of self care that isn’t just LUSH bath bombs and tasty treats. It provides me with the space to be open and vulnerable with myself, to practice self compassion.  It has helped me come to terms with who I am and how my body is shaped and to face all the parts of me, even the ones I tend to try to avoid.

Before delving into creative outlets like sewing and knitting, I spent years burnt out, struggling to make time for myself, and always putting others before me. I said “yes” and did my best to show up for everyone else’s things which meant that the things I was passionate about for myself always took the back burner. I still struggle with this but finding the thing I always want to say “f**k yes!” to has made it a lot easier to say “no” to the things I would otherwise feel obligated to do. 

I also believe that the more you practice being creative, the stronger your creativity muscle gets. This can be applied in areas outside of your chosen creative outlet. Our world is faced with a lot of complex problems that require huge cultural and societal shifts to see any degree of change. Some of these problems are part of what I work on in my day job. Some of these problems I care deeply about and am constantly pushing myself to learn about and understand better so I can be a better ally. In some ways, we are trying to build a world that we have never lived in or experienced before. Sometimes, the most we have to go off of is what we learned from the step we just took. The best we can often do is to envision the roadmap for where we want to end up and take the next step forward.  This takes a lot of trust in process versus product, being able to lean into uncertainty, and making new connections between things that might not seem connected. These are all things that being creative teaches us. 

I started this blog because I wanted to document the lessons I learn by engaging with the creative process. Along with that, I wanted to start having a broader conversation about how a creative life is possible for anyone and how important cultivating creativity is for building better versions of ourselves and the world around us.