On Creating: Let's Be Childish

When did we start taking Creating so seriously?

Remember when it used to be FUN? When it used to be PLAY?

When we were children, we were actors, innovators, writers, musicians, painters, illustrators... DREAMERS. We didn't have a care in the world and we thought EVERYTHING we created was the best thing in the World, because it was OUR best thing in the world.

And then at some point, we began to compare our art, our creativity. Competition was introduced and we realized that we weren't do great... Our ideas weren't that innovative after all... That we actually were not that great.

But who said?! Based on the world's systems, if you don't have the credentials, the following, if people don't resonate with your work or if your art doesn’t conform to a "norm", then you don't have the talent.

We've been making music, writing , inventing, painting, designing, singing, dancing, leading and dreaming since we were children. And yet it seems that as we mature into adulthood, we begin to regress in a way.

This lie that art and creativity and anything else has to be perfect, accepted, and has to meet a standard is a new thinking. We were born with Audacity. We believed that we could be and do ANYTHING.

I find that when I am creating JUST to create or having fun, I get lost for hours and even days. I become obsessed with it and all I am doing is playing. I feel much more free to create, to breathe and to be myself. There's no pressure to please anyone, validate myself or my art or compete. I'm creating what I want and enjoying the entire process.

Maybe it's time to we stop being so serious, and have a little more fun. Wake up your inner child... Because, Let's face it, we never REALLY grow up, we just begin to conform.

Photo Credit: Alecia Renece Photography