At one point in your life, whether you can recall it or not, you were most likely presented with a big box of crayons in front of you. Next to the box of crayons, laid a wide open blank piece of paper, sprawled out in front of you. You (yes you!) most likely took those crayons in your little fingers, and began fearlessly and confidently filling that blank space with colours, shapes, letters, lines, and whatever you pleased. Whoever was with you, most likely praised you for diligently creating one brilliant masterpiece after another. This kind of stuff was clearly encouraged as it was a stimulating activity for both your imagination and your fine motor skills. You didn't care that someone could be watching you over your shoulder and you weren't worried that the end result would not be "good enough". You let your imagination take you away. You drew, painted, designed, built, and even sang and danced.
Let's fast forward a few years. As you grew up, you realized that there were better drawers, painters, singers and dancers out there. You began to look at things more analytically and realized that this just wasn't your thing. You really weren't a creative after all. You were encouraged to explore other areas of interest and pursue a different path in life. Some of you might have gone the other way. Your drawings, paintings, singing, and dancing may have excelled and you stuck out from the crowd. Because of this, you were encouraged to keep going with this and maybe even took art classes. Unlike your classmates, you had an artistic talent that others would "ooh" and "aah" over.
Isn't this ironic that though we all began with that big box of crayons in front of us, some of us just "aren't creative"? Well I have some news: you are creative. Though it may not seem like it, you partake in acts of creativity every single day. Did you decide what to cook for dinner? That's creative. Did you purposely wear your blue top because it went well with the pants you are wearing? That's creative! Have you ever watched the sun set? Or marvelled at the stars in the night sky? Guess what, nature is FULL of creativity. Observing and taking in the beauty around us is an act of creativity in itself. Don't believe me? Are you not feeling the creative vibe these days? Well, maybe what you need to do is take a different route home from work. Or have something different for breakfast than the same old thing you've been eating day after day. All of these things help us see and feel the reality of our world, rather than just robotically going through the motions. Take pleasure in the moment and take time to marvel at the sky, the food you're eating, or the music you hear. I believe we all have some sort of creativity engrained in us, and I think it is healthy to utilize this. Why? It'll bring you more happiness into your everyday life.
That leads me to my pursuit. It's hard for me to make this public because this means I really have to stick with it (though that's a perfect reason to make it public). I have decided to commit to doing an act of creativity every single day for one year. I did not come up with this idea. I got my inspiration from Crystal Moody's "Year of Creative Habits". I read about it here and listened to a podcast about her 365 days of creative habits. I was left feeling extremely inspired. I researched into this during mid January and decided to start my Creative Pursuit in February. This gave me a couple of weeks to re-think the idea, come up with my own guidelines, and start fresh at the beginning of the month (though I started on the 2nd of February- not the 1st. Whatever, I'm making my own rules here).
Here are my guidelines:
1. Decide at the beginning of the month what type of creative act I will focus on.
2. Complete a small creative act (based on my monthly focus) every day.
3. Evaluate my thoughts and process at the end of the month.
4. Repeat for 12 months!
This is not meant to be a perfect process, stress me out, or consume a lot of my time. Though I am striving for daily routine, if I miss a day it will not be the end of the world. I am aiming for small projects that take just 10-15 minutes a day (maybe shorter, maybe longer depending on my schedule for the day). Most of all, I want to engage myself in the creative process, have fun with it, and be able to look back at my progress. I will be documenting this process by taking a photo of what I did each day, and I will share my progress through this blog. I haven't decided whether I'll be sharing just once a month or once a week... I'm going to see how I feel at the end of week 1 (which actually is approaching quickly!).
Lastly, I hope I can inspire you (yes, you!) to get in touch with your creative side. I know you have it in you, and it doesn't take much to explore it! If you'd like to join me in this process, feel free to create your own "Creative Pursuit", you might surprise yourself along the way.
Here's to a year of pursuing creativity. :)
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