Have you ever thought to yourself, I’m just not creative? Over the years, I have had many people tell me they don’t have a creative bone in their body.
For a long time, I was that person lamenting my lack of creativity, silently wishing I could paint a beautiful landscape or sketch the images I see in my mind. As I thought about it more, I realised that I just hadn’t found an outlet to create. I hadn’t found a way to express the wonder that I see in the world.
I was at a staff training day yesterday, and one of the speakers said, “I am created by the Creator for the purpose of creating.” It stuck with me. Sometimes we limit creativity and our ability to create with our own standards of perfection. Creativity exists in us all, but it outworks in different ways. Here are five tips to help if you feel like you are not creative or as can sometimes happen, your creativity is blocked.
Create Just for the Sake of It
Whatever your creative outlet is, writing, photography, painting, baking, gardening, drawing, or music, just to name a few, create because you can. Not on a deadline, not on a timeline. Try not to have any preconceived ideas about the results. Experiment, try new things. Try to approach it without perfectionism.
In her book Sacred Rest, Saundra Dalton, MD, describes the creative process as coming from a deep inner well, she says “It is the process of drawing beauty to the surface.” When I first started writing, I wasn’t sure why or if I would ever share any of it. It was a creative outlet that brought me joy, so I took the first step to just start writing. You never know what you’ll find, or what you are capable of if you don’t just start the process.
Be Intentional About It
Set some time aside to do what you love creatively – even if it’s just half an hour. I have half an hour booked on a Wednesday, which is writing time. I try to start every morning with a gratitude walk and some photos of the scenery. Life can be packed full of obligations and demands. Making some creative space for yourself can often be pushed aside. Much like making time for rest, we need to be intentional about scheduling time for things that bring us joy. Creativity helps us and others to see and experience the beauty in the world through our own unique take.
Be Rested
We need seven types of rest. It’s not just as simple as a good night’s sleep. One of the types of rest is Creative Rest. If you feel like you aren’t creative or you feel like your creativity has taken a little holiday without you, you may not be getting enough creative rest. So how do we get creative rest?
Find things that inspire you and just spend time admiring them. Let your appreciation for a sunset, a kangaroo, or a bee with pollen all over its little legs be something that restores your creativity. I know I need creative rest when I go to write and my brain can’t find the words, or I don’t have the energy to get my actual camera out. Those are the times that I go for walks outside and admire. It doesn’t have to be outside, you could be someone who finds the majesty and architecture of a city building inspiring, or an art gallery. It might be the way your local cafe has been decorated. We are surrounded every day by things that are stunning, both created and man-made; we get to use these to inspire us and bring that beauty to the surface again so we can create.
Rediscover Your Sense of Wonder
Similar to creative rest, it’s hard to create when you are running through life at warp speed. Slow down. Breathe. Take a minute. Remember what it was like when little things made you stop in your tracks in a good way?
This morning, I was on my bed with a cup of coffee; the mug matched the thick grey cable knit blanket on the end of the bed, which was sitting on a textured light grey rug. The morning light was streaming through the open window as the sun rose and cast a golden light. I stopped what I was doing and took a photo, because it looked so beautiful, I just had to capture it. Ultimately was it the same mug I use almost daily, on the same two blankets I see every day? Yes. But they are never going to look exactly how they did in that moment again. Slow down and Rediscover your sense of wonder.
Don’t Let Fear Stop You
Fear is an enemy of creativity. If you have something you want to create and share, do it. Create a space to share what you love, first just for yourself and then with others. Get feedback from people that you trust so that you can develop, and then slowly branch out further. I have someone who edits my work for me after my final edit. She will regularly tell me that a sentence isn’t flowing well or my grammar needs correcting. I trust her and I am mature enough to know that her feedback makes me a better writer. I have had my writing published nationally, but if I had let my fear stop me (and trust me, there was a healthy measure of it), I would still be back where I started, thinking that I was not creative.
We were created to create. I saw another quote this week that said when all we do is consume, we end up depressed because we were born to create. There is an innate sense of wonder in us, the part of us that is automatically awed by the beauty that we see. It’s that part of us that we can allow to be inspired by all the beauty that God has created in this world, and tap into to create something beautiful of our own.
Article supplied with thanks to Lorrene McClymont.
About the Author: Lorrene McClymont is a writer and photographer from Hope Images. She shares about rest, faith, and family.
Feature image: Photo by Solen Feyissa on Unsplash
