A whole bunch of us used to love being creative as kids, weather it concerned drawing, playing with Lego, building some undefined thing or just playing an instrument. Unfortunately, many of us gets distanced from our creative side as we turn into grownups. And with that losing connection to the inner child. A common reality I myself lived in for many years until I by accident fell in love with video editing 1,5 years ago. And my experience of life just had a whole new dimension added to it. Or reinstalled I should say. Young creative fat Alex is back, and I love him!
I think the reason we stop doing these things have to do with us growing up and finding ourselves in a world where time is the most precious commodity. And we often measure that in the currency of what we get out of it on an objective scale. If we work we get money. If we accomplish something on our never ending to-do-list, we get a shorter never ending to-do-list. Then there’s spending time with friends and family, which maybe is a more subjective experience (and a highly necessary one), but could perhaps be combined with a creative activity to greater extent. And then it’s more work again.
I don’t blame you for prioritizing like this, that’s how I lived my entire grown up life as well. Taking time to be creative just doesn’t make sense from a logical perspective. But that’s why we need to look at it from a different perspective. We should see it as a piece of the ever so important wellbeing puzzle. An activity – like training – that makes us experience joy and happiness. Entering that marvellous flow state (and perhaps sometimes generating a bit of sweet and tears too). And yeah, stress and anxiety also have a hard time sticking around when enter these emotional states.
One of my videos I had really fun with editing, just letting my creative self lose.
If you ask me, judging by my own newly re born experience to ‘practicing’ creativity daily, it’s one of the easiest way to tap into these emotions. Not saying it can’t be frustrating and evoke opposite feelings at times, but I’m talking about the overall experience when you find something that’s ‘right’ for you. All this without needing to go on a one week trip to a distant island in the Pacific’s. And it could happen daily; after work, in your living room, at the kitchen table, at your computer, even in your phone.
As a successful creative you need to be able to let go of external opinions and pressure and expose your ‘true voice’. But this is easier said than done in the perfect Instagram world we live in today (Ironically enough, Instagram is one of the few places people are being creative today). We fear other people’s judgements so much. So much. It doesn’t help that many of us have emotional scars from our childhood attached to a creative area. A friend or family member that made negative remarks (to put it tenderly) about your creation, or even worse a teacher that cut a deep wound within.
But once and a while you’re able to connect with that playful self – I’m hoping. Disconnecting yourselves from the grownup judgmental self-criticising mind, and unleash a burst of childish creativity to the world. You feel alive. Unfiltered joy. A sense proudness for adding something unique to this world. Now you don’t go and say this out loud. Of course not. You only turned down the self-criticising mind enough to actually create something. The mind is still shouting. You barley even think these thoughts. However, subconsciously, that is how you feel. And if you do share it with someone, it comes with long excusing remarks about how it’s really nothing serious and it’s just made on a fly. Even though you put your heart and soul into it. But that’s alright, this is the least of our problems – at least you did it! And you feel proud, and you should be. You can work on being more vulnerable later.
From A YouTube Creator’s day a couple of months back here in Stockholm.
So, what can you do to get Intouch with your creative self again? Well, depends. If you had something you used to love doing back in the days, like drawing or playing a instrument – go for that. Or try something completely new out like me and start a YouTube channel. It for sure entails a shitload of creativity being needed.
I can’t see why it shouldn’t be a part of your life on a daily basis. So I say design a daily creativity habit, but set a very low minimum bar. Perhaps five minutes of drawing each day while eating. Below I link a video for how you can design a good habit that will last. If you think a daily habit is too much of a commitment, set aside some time each week. Put it in the calendar and make sure to do it! This may seem as a ‘boring’ way to approach something that should be playful and funny. Put if you haven’t set a side time for it so far – due to all the important things you need to do – why would it be any difference next week?
And if you want some more indebt advices in how to become a good artist /creative, check out this great YouTube video I watched yesterday and really got me inspired.
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Artists – https://youtu.be/vM39qhXle4g
Some other good Videos on creativity:
How to build your creative confidence | David Kelley – https://youtu.be/16p9YRF0l-g
How To Be Creative | Off Book | PBS Digital Studios – https://youtu.be/weIQIthC3Ks
One of my favourite authors; Brene Brown – shame and vulnerability is her thing. You can’t have a conversation about creativity without overlapping the vulnerability topic. If you want a fresh read, she just released a great book called Braving the Wilderness: The Quest for True Belonging and the Courage to Stand Alone. Here’s a good interview a lecture with her:
Brené Brown: Why Your Critics Aren’t The Ones Who Count – https://youtu.be/8-JXOnFOXQk
An interview: Daring Greatly to Unlock Your Creativity with Brené Brown | Chase Jarvis LIVE | ChaseJarvis – https://youtu.be/kAk4cwjvJ0A
Thanks for stopping by!
/Alexander
