“Humans are designed to be creative” I heard him say.
Last night in bed, I was reading my book while Tim watched a YouTube video next to me all about building a shed.
It’s a running joke in our house that I tease Tim about his YouTube choices only to find myself sucked in moments later (like the series on German Shorthaired Pointers I couldn’t look away from last week… the heart wants what it wants).
The shed-building-YouTuber was talking about how intimidated non-professional builders can be to build, but that we needn’t feel that way. Because, as he put it, humans are designed to be creative.
It’s in our essence to CREATE.
Well beyond the end of the video, I couldn’t stop thinking about his words. And even more so than that, how disconnected from our creative essence we can become.
How do you expresss yourself creatively?
Do you feel aligned with or disconnected from your creative essence?
For me, I love to write. I love to dance. I even love to sing.
And, I spent years (sssss) disconnected from the part of myself that loves to be expressed in those ways.
The more intense my perfectionist tendencies became, the more disconnected I got from the carefree, creative side of myself.
I mean… you should hear me sing. Let’s just say it’s not perfect.
My mind and life were full of rules, “shoulds,” and expectations. If I wasn’t achieving something, what was the point? If it wasn’t part of my master to do list each day, I didn’t have time for it.
I became more and more rigid until there was no air left in the room for my creative essence to breathe.
What keeps you from expressing yourself creatively? Is it the fear that you won’t be “good” at it? That the act might not technically accomplish or produce anything? Perhaps that you’re so exhausted trying to fix or control yourself / your life that there is no energy left? Maybe something else?
Take a moment to learn about yourself here.
What holds you back from experiencing this essential part of yourself?
Do food rules keep you from creatively cooking in the kitchen? Do execise “shoulds” keep you from moving your body without a plan? Does perfectionism keep you from trying something new or saying “yes” to something you love but aren’t necessarily skilled at?
You are a human designed to create. Creating is part of your essence.
I hope this truth will help you to reconnect, even if for a moment, with that part of yourself that wants to build a shed or sing a song or dance for no reason or write a poem or paint a mural or bake a cake or simply spend some time imagining.
You are MADE to do that thing you’re longing to do.
Not because you’ll do it perfectly. Or because it’s part of the plan. Or because you “should.” Or because you’ll be celebrated or acclaimed or paid the “big bucks.”
But because it’s part of you that’s longing to breathe.
Sue Monk Kidd says, “longings are one of the most eloquent ways the soul speaks to us.”
How is your soul speaking to you?
