Keep Your Creativity Alive

Your creation matters. Whether it is something that is personal to you or something that you share with the world, it is something that is worthy of your time. It can feel like if you don’t have immediate success or you aren’t gaining a substantial amount of recognition, then it doesn’t matter what you do. It can feel like you shouldn’t bother writing, taking photos, creating a YouTube video, producing music or doing a small art project. You might start wondering if it’s worth your time. It is.

Why is it worth your time? You don’t know how it’s going to carry you in the future. You don’t know if someone is going to be insanely inspired by something you created today, 3 years from now. I know that there are interesting things I find every day that have been created years ago by other people. Whether it's a book I find as I am curiously browsing the library isles or a helpful article I find while doing a Google search on something I need help with, I'm glad I found another's creation.

You also get the positive feeling from creation itself. I know I feel different when I’m filming a YouTube video and then post it or when I’m working on a writing draft and publish it. I know I feel motivated when I've added a little bit of content on my website or when I'm taking photos, editing and posting on my mobile street photography account. It just keeps me going. Whether or not it is well received or viewed by that many people, it still feels satisfying that I took the time to create something I wanted to.

It can also lead to other ideas as well. While you are working on something that you have energy behind you can stumble upon other things you weren’t anticipating. As you are writing you might come up with an additional idea for an article. If you are taking several photographs in a row you might spot something else that is even better than what you were originally trying to capture. If you are experimenting in the kitchen and mixing different spices and flavors you might find another twist on a dish you already really like. You just never now where creativity will lead you.

And the world and society we live in are creations themselves. Everything we are around every day is something someone else decided to create. Every business, every book, every restaurant, every billboard ad, every building, every blog post, every garden and so on exists because someone decided they were going to go ahead and run with an idea. They started with their small creative idea and it blossomed into something we enjoy today. We wouldn’t have so much variety in the world if people didn’t create. It’s the richness that fills our cities. It’s why we love our particular neighborhood. It’s why we are so drawn to certain people.

Creativity is what we need. We don’t just need it for pleasure, but for real-world solutions. We go to work and can come up with solutions because we keep our creativity alive. I can think of so many products and services I use every day that are because of someone else’s creativity and I am grateful that they took the time to create and not let their inspiration fade.

So, I encourage you to continue working on your project whatever it is. Whether you are trying to come up with a solution to something, or you are purely creating for your amusement go ahead with it. Enjoy the process and be excited about what might manifest down the road because of your dedication to your creative process today.

Photo Credit: Daniel Olah on Unsplash