Creativity Is a Lifestyle
Building a life with your imagination
If there is one truth that has always been there in the background of my life, it’s creativity. I’ve always loved the creativity, and on most days, it seems to feel the same.
When I was a kid, I had this bright orange alligator float. You could almost surf on it in the tiny creek near my family home. Almost. Either that or almost kill your stupid 8-year old self, but that’s a different story for a different time. Anyway, I had this alligator float, I’d get on it and paddle around in what some might call a hopelessly, painfully, small little stretch of creek.
And yet, for me, I was in the wilds of some exotic jungle. I was on a journey into the far reaches of some deep unknown, where pythons would stretch out from the mile-high trees of ancient overgrowth and try to snatch me from the fierce boat I was riding. Or, some ugly monster might rise from the nearly endless depths of my 2 to a 3-foot deep water hole and pick a fight with me, the great adventurer.
I loved that alligator float and loved that creek. But I loved the stories that I told myself in that boundless youth of summer days gone by, even more. Much more.
Stories, creativity and the force of my imagination have carried me since my earliest memories.
Imagination
It all begins with the power of imagining things, of going into yourself and playing with possibilities. Don’t take the surface value of the world around you, go deeper, dive deeper. See what others can but won’t, that’s your job as a creative.
Regardless of where you and your creativity might go, you have to be willing to approach life with an almost playful mindset, one that isn’t tethered by the heavy and obstructive weight of the “real” world and its many damning features. No, you have the power of an over-active imagination, use it, embrace it, swim in it, and let it run free.
Chase after it, wherever it goes. Use your imagination.
What if and other questions
Sometimes the power of your imagination needs a bit of prodding, needs some guidance, or egging on. That’s where questions come into the picture. Nothing can stimulate your mind and imagination more than the right question (or the wrong one rightly entertained).
What if…? Why not…? How did…?
Pick at the ravels in the life you live, use questions to find the little strings that have come undone, and grab on. Keep pulling until you understand. And if what you’re seeking has no clear answers, that’s OK too. Sometimes, questions lead to more questions, and then more questions.
Questions can be journeys, flip the script, enjoy the journey, explore your life and plum its depths by learning to see the unstated questions behind things. Ask them fearlessly, seek their answers, seek their deeper questions.
Seeing the connections
Living creatively will, without doubt, lead you to a different and more careful observation of the life you live and the goings-on around you. It’s damned near inevitable. And that’s OK because this is the beginning of seeing the pattern, the connections, the links behind the things you’re seeing.
If you want to embrace your creative life and live it deeply and richly, look for the connections.
Whatever you’re reading, watching on Netflix, listening to, debating, studying, writing about, and thinking about just before falling asleep or just after waking up, they have connections that tie them together. Look for those links. Maybe not everything will go together, but enough things will link to one another that you will, with careful study and consideration, that is to say, with practice, you can find them.
Practice this observation daily, moment to moment. Learn to find the patterns, even if you’re making them up, finding connections is how you learn to cast the wider net over your projects and drag in bigger and better catches. It’s also how you begin to understand yourself, your world, and the people around you.
It’s the beginning of stories.
Creativity is a choice
Which is to say that all of this comes back to you choosing the creative life, and not just once or twice, but in between, just before, just after and with every breath.
Creativity is a lifestyle because it’s something you live in, live with, build a life from. It’s how you choose to see and interact with your world, and it’s how you understand the world around you. It’s how you begin to not only understand your place in the world but your place in its story and your responsibility in return.
Regardless of how you create, what you create, and what comes from it, your creativity demands a certain price in return. It’s up to you, ultimately, to figure out what that is. But part of it is the act of creating itself, and growing as a creator. You owe an obligation to both. But your why is your own, and only you can fully and completely understand that.
Which is to say, only you can choose to do so.
Live creatively
Here’s the thing about being a creator, it’s a messy life and if you’re going to create something great, one lesson stands out above them all: embrace progress. Forget perfection.
Creativity is a lifestyle. Live creatively. Embrace the mess. Take the journey.
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