Want to be creative? Have you considered letting it be easy?
Photo by Roberto Nickson on Unsplash
The same way Doctor Strange is a student of the mystic arts, I’m a student of the creative arts.
You might think that’s because I’m a writer and therefore “a creative,” but I believe that every human on the planet is a creative being.
Sam, as a business leader, strives to create an office environment that enables his team to shine. To show up as their best, brightest and fullest selves. He wouldn’t ever say that he’s doing that because that’s Keely language, not Sam language, but it’s what he’s doing. That’s Sam engaging in a creative venture.
Wolfgang and Emily, my brother and sister-in-law, recently gave birth to the cutest seven-month-old alive (Hunter, Hazel, Elle and Everett win the award for their respective age classes) and they, as parents, strive to create a warm, nurturing home for precious Maura. That’s them engaging in a creative venture.
As a writer, I strive to share words that are hopeful and helpful, ones that help us (me included) remember that being a human on Earth is a magical, mystical, thrilling adventure. I find this perspective to be far superior to the one I used to hold, which was that being a human on Earth was a tedious, exhausting, frequently overwhelming chore, so it’s an important project for me. This is me engaging in a creative venture.
As I’ve begun to share my writing more consistently, I’ve heard from people who are dancing with their own creative projects. Sometimes it’s about things like writing a book. Other times it’s about transforming their life. Figuring out their purpose. Understanding why they’re here, what they’re meant to do.
Sometimes it’s about overcoming trauma, depression, addiction or anxiety. Sometimes it’s about feeling more at ease in their own body.
Very human things. Intensely human things.
And, in my worldview, creative projects–one and all.
So, today, one day after a morning of creative stumbling (where my “I’m in a hurry and don’t know why” days interfered with my beloved writing practice), I want to share a tidbit about the creative process that I find helpful.
I took all the time to set up, “creativity is for everyone,” because I want it to be clear this musing isn’t about writing. It’s about parenting. It’s about leading. It’s about building a business. It’s about expanding your bug wing greeting card empire. It’s about any single venture that involves YOU creating something that didn’t previously exist. A warm and welcoming home. A perfectly executed dinner party. A baby.
We’re all creative. All of us.
Writing happens to be the arena where I learn the most about the creative process. It’s a container where I can test things out and see what happens.
And, for a lot of writers (read, a lot of creatives) there’s this standing advice: a writer is someone who writes. If you want to be a writer, your job is to sit down every day and write.
Let’s make it broad again: a creative is someone who creates. If you want to be a creative person, your job is to sit down every day and create.
I find this statement to be true. If you want to write a memoir, you need to carve out time to actually write. If you want to create a business, you need to carve out time to actually build.
But here’s something I only learned after I went deeper into the process: if you think that the “creative process” is that hour you spend sitting at the keyboard, you’re in for an unpleasant journey. At least in my experience–-maybe it’s different for other people.
That hour you spend at the keyboard (or mapping out your quarterly strategy, or building the menu for your dinner party)--that’s an hour of you POURING OUT.
In order to pour out, you first have to have something worth pouring out.
As of this moment, I am starting to think of the creative process like making a smoothie. In order to have a delicious smoothie, one that is worth drinking, I need three essential steps:
I need to select ingredients and put them in the blender
I need to blend them
Then (and only then) can I pour out a smoothie worth drinking
The pouring, the emptying out, the traditionally recognized “creative” part – it comes AFTER the other two steps.
For the last few days, I’ve been sitting at my keyboard like normal, but I haven’t been doing the second step. As such, it’s been a stilted process instead of a flowy one.
For me, putting all the ingredients in the blender (step one) is picking out fascinating tidbits from daily life. It’s reading. It’s interacting with humans. It’s listening to podcasts. It’s filling my “blender” with interesting ideas. Since I write about life, I just need life-y things. If you’re trying to do a business thing, you probably need business-y things. If you’re trying to a parenting thing, you probably need parent-y things.
Then, blending (step two) is critical. For me, this step is movement and stillness practices. I can “fill my blender” all I want, throwing in kale, wild blueberries, a banana…but until I blend, I don’t have a smoothie. For me to actually work with all the fascinating tidbits I fill my blender with, I need to do things like go for a walk. I need time to let ideas percolate. To form connections, to synthesize. It’s like the aha moments that come in the shower.
This step is my focus for today because it’s what’s been missing for me over the last few days. I filled my blender, then I set aside time to “pour” but I didn’t leave any space in my day for blending. I did, did, did.
That doesn’t work for me.
I’m now past my two-page self-imposed limit and going to wrap this up, but I think you get the idea. For me to have a smoothie worth drinking, it needs to be blended. For me to publish a musing worth reading, I need time to let ideas spin together in my head. I need space. Space, space, space.
If you want to live a creative life, I suggest gifting yourself some of that: space. Space for the blending. Space for the percolating. Space in between the filling up and the pouring out.
Carl Richards says, “Large chunks of unstructured time are not rewards for doing good work — they’re prerequisites for it,” and I wish the whole world knew that.
Sending love and my hopes for a spacious, creative day,
Credits:
All humans are creative beings - Liz Gilbert
Creativity as a 3-step process - the smoothie analogy is my own, but the idea of creativity requiring multiple steps (including a percolating period) is widely discussed
Filling up and pouring out - on my mind thanks to a conversation with Phillip Jackson
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