It always upsets me when people tell me they're not creative. It also upsets me that I hear this so often. "Oh, I wish I could come up with the stuff that you do." "I wish I could write/paint/draw." "I wish I could think of things like that, but my mind just isn't creative."
I've talked before about how society tends to try and destroy and/or dismiss our creative drive. They never do, of course, but they certainly mask and hide it for a lot of people. Other people are taught to dismiss creativity and focus on other things.
However, no matter what you've been taught or even what you believe, you DO possess a creative drive. It may not be the main driving force of your life, but it is there and you do use it. The hell, you say? Well, let's look at some factors.
As we've talked about before, one of the ways the creative drive gets stifled in people is due to this assumption that only the "talented few" possess it. Unless you can dance like a ballerina or paint like Leonardo, you have no talent, and therefore, no real creativity. What this really means though, is that you have taken your creative drive and focused it in another avenue.
Now, some of these other avenues may be very positive and healthy for you. For instance, the majority of your creative drive may be focused in problem solving. There are some obvious creative links here. Inventors tend to look at the world, see what needs a better solution, and then find ways to make that solution become a reality. Event planners can make a great deal of money by looking at seemingly impossible situations (get 3000 people who hate each other to all eat cake at the same time) and finding ways to make them run smoothly.
Even on a day to day basis though, you probably activate your creativity millions of times. You put together meals. You put together outfits. You arrange the date for a perspective romantic evening. You buy a gift for someone. All of these things access your creative drive.
On the other hand, many people access their creative drives for less beneficial reasons. Thinking of ways to torture someone, ways to make them miserable, or lies to start about them may not be that nice, but they do still employ the creative drive. Sometimes we use creativity in counterproductive ways, such as finding ways to cheat on a test or get out of doing your job. Still creative, but probably not doing you a lot of good in the long run.
My guess is that for a lot of people, the majority of their creative drive is used to help them to stay alive and reasonably sane. They lie to people who won't accept the truth. They find ways to hide from people who would harm them. They allow their minds to wander into far off places so they don't have to think about what is going on around them.
Look, if you ever take anything away from my blog, please let it be this. The next time you think that you're not creative, stifle that thought. You are creative and you do creative things every day. You play with your kids. You get really deeply into your video game character. You plan your family vacation. You plan for your retirement. All of these things utilize the vast wealth of creative energy we all possess.
As I've written before, creativity is the reason we continue to survive. It is fundamental in making sure we continue to do so. And this doesn't hinge on just the creative thinking of an elite few. This hinges on all of us, because we are all capable of creative thought.
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