5 Eye-Opening Realizations on Living More Creatively

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When I turned 38 back in October, I really only wanted to focus on 2 main things:

1. My health
2. Getting (back?) into the practice of creative writing.

To be honest, the health journey has been a slog.🫠 One full of stops and starts, tiny tweaks, and small swaps in the kitchen. It’s also been full of daily reminders that improving one’s health is a lifelong journey… a marathon, not a sprint. (I have A MILLION correlations between this realization and life itself, but I’ll save all that for another day.)

My creative writing journey, however, has been fascinating so far.

I’m a little mind-blown about what I’ve learned, and it’s been everything from the practice/processes we put in place to the mindset that’s required when learning to live more creatively.

Ironically, I thought I was setting out to learn more about the skill of writing. Instead, I’ve accidentally stumbled upon an abundance of information about the bigger picture – the bigger picture of living a full, creative life. A life outside of stringing a few words together.

I’m now 100% aware that I’ve been viewing creativity all wrong.

Oops.

I guess the more you know, the more you know, though, right?

So, as I continue on my little journey down the “creative writing” road, I figured it couldn’t hurt to share a few of the things I’ve learned so far; both for the aspiring creative and the one who’s curious about inviting more creativity into their life, too.

Realization #1: Creativity Takes Many Forms

When I sat down to begin the post, the thing I wanted to convey most was that up until now, I have misunderstood creativity.

Creativity, in my mind, equaled art. Painting, writing, music, theater, etc. To be labeled “a creative,” you needed a degree, real-life experience, and possibly a French beret:

One of the first (and arguably most important) things I’ve learned about creativity is that it takes many forms. I learned this from writer/marketer/entrepreneur Caroline Lunne and even felt compelled to make it a static post on my Instagram.

For a long time, I didn’t think I had the time, resources, or know-how to be considered “a creative.” Consequently, I squelched creativity for a long time and I viewed it incorrectly. I missed the opportunity to accept that even the smallest of things can be labeled “creative.”

Creativity doesn’t have to be a formal “art.” It can also be seen in the meals we make for our family, the outfits we’ve put together for work, and the knick-knacks we’ve chosen for our entryway tables.

Creativity is literally everywhere if we look for it.

It’s simply the creation of something new. Something that wasn’t there before but now is, because our imagination dreamt it up and we acted on it.

That’s the whole basis of creativity.

It’s so much broader than I ever knew.

Realization #2: We are People of Multitudes

Over the past few months, I have fallen in love with Jen Shoop’s blog, Magpie.

One of the things she is constantly reminding her readers is that we are women of multitudes. We can enjoy and be fascinated by more than one thing as we all have different elements that make up who we are.

We can enjoy both fashion AND writing (a la Jen Shoop).

Or, quiet evenings AND need a night out with our girlfriends.

We can also work a day job AND have a creative hobby.

We are made up of the “ands”; we have layers. (Yes, just like Shrek.)

My point is that we are multifaceted. We can have more than one interest. More than likely, you have several, just like me. This means we can have a job, and carry numerous titles (like mom, wife, friend, etc.) AND STILL have a little something creative in us that we want to explore.

Realization #3: We Are Curious Souls

Speaking of exploring… I’ve learned that we are all curious souls.

Sometimes, society would prefer we were not curious. Human nature can make us want to stick to the norms, fall in line, and stay in our box.

But creativity gives us room to explore something. To ask questions, dig a little deeper, and try something that might not work just for the heck of it.

A few months ago, when I decided I was going to start taking writing seriously, I got really curious about what it would look like to actually COMMIT to writing one new blog post a week.

What kind of writer would I be if I published 365 posts in a year? Would I have an idea for a book? Would this feel like second nature? I’m curious to know the answer, and the only way to find the answer is to commit and get creative along the way.

On a deeper note, I wonder how much different our world would be if we all let ourselves be more curious. Would we stop trying to shape expectations and the people around us? Would we feel less inclined to stick to the status quo? Who knows.

What I do know is that curiosity is an avenue to creativity. The more curious I get, the more inclined I am to create.

Realization #4: The Purpose of Creativity Lies in the Work, Not the Outcome

I recently finished Elizabeth Gilbert’s book Big Magic which is centered around the entire idea of creating simply to create. It doesn’t have to be our paycheck or our way of life. It means putting pen to paper, or paintbrush to canvas, or {fill in the blank} all for the simple joy of creating.

I know I’ve written on this before, but back when I was freelancing, writing started to become a draining process. All the fun was zapped out of it. It became work (because it literally was my work) and the more I wrote articles for clients, the less I felt like writing anything of my own.

What if creating was just… fun? What if we created, just to create? Not to expect anything in return or to try to make something popular or famous, but to just enjoy the process and let it be what it is.

And so, if I enjoy creative writing, then my job is to simply sit down and write. To do the work, to persist, to persevere forward. To keep going because I can and I want to.

Realization #5: We Don’t Have to Share Our Work, But Maybe We Should

I’m currently halfway through Seth Godin’s The Practice, where the premise is to “ship creative work.”

In other words, create something, then put it out there and see what happens.

This is usually where the creative process loses me. I’m all for secret journal entries and random ramblings that never see the light of day. That’s easy.

What’s hard is putting those words out there, on display, for people to see, and *gasp* judge.

Thanks, but no thanks.

HOWEVER.

I may have been viewing this process all wrong. As Seth explains, when we put our thoughts/energy/force into the outcome of a project, we put unnecessary pressure on ourselves.

What’s better is to lean into the practice of writing and then garner feedback and share what we know along the way. See what hits and what doesn’t. Also, what if we have knowledge or a gift that could make someone’s life better but we’re too scared to share it?

If nothing else, maybe what we learn by sharing our creative work is that it isn’t so scary after all. That we’re more resilient than we realized.

Art, after all, is not about how it’s judged or viewed by others – it’s a gift to the world by the creator. I’m reminding myself that some readers may not resonate with or understand my writing, but it still deserves to be shared. I’ll never know who it might inspire or what it’ll do once it’s out there. That’s not my job. My job is to ship the work.

Wrapping Up.

Since my birthday, I’ve finished a writing course and I’m currently on book #2 about the creative process. I’ve published more blog posts in the past couple of months than I did the full year before my birthday. I’m also finding myself drawn to the writing chair now more than ever before. (I also track my daily word count as a way to prove to myself that I am, in fact, a writer, if I say I am.)

I know I set out to learn more about writing in general, but I’ve become fascinated by the art of living creatively. Of getting curious and figuring out what makes us tick. And doing the work while simultaneously releasing my grip on the outcome.

As a final note and a quick reminder: You do not need a French beret to be considered a creative. You already are.💛