UNbLOCK Your Creative Flow

So I kept getting these "Creator" email requests and I was like LordT what in the world has someone signed me up for now?? It almost felt like a group text on my computer LOL

That being said...in stumbling over this again and again on different platforms, like a lesson I have been missing each lifetime...I asked myself...SELF...who the heck sees ME as a CREATOR?

I am NOT creative. Last time I had this convo was with my homegirl (California born, Harlem raised, Philly transplant), I told her "I ain't got no talents LOL"

Yes I sang in both choirs (school one: Varsity, and cultural one: Gospel) in HS...but I know darn well I do NOT sound good...so yea ummm who I'm foolin'. All negative self talk ain't always bad, IJS.

Yes I LOVE to dance...but after being hit by a drunk driver on July 2nd, 1988...it was a miracle I was able to walk again 2 years later...so it's not like I can dance, dance.  Just being honest, when gettin' it I am doing far more in my mind than I am in the mirror! It's ok Beyonce loves me unconditionally.

Nope, I can't draw, not even a lil bit, I mean even my stick figures are sus and I can't even say I enjoy cooking, again not even a lil bit, le sigh.

So again I ask..who da heck sees me as a creator or creative...idk guys and gals, help a Sista out...what do you people call yourselves (j/k). But seriously, back to that convo: my girl's response was "Nef....your talent is 'I think!' Because no one's brain works like yours girl!

So doing what I do best, at least according to my boo...I had to really ponder about this whole CREATOR piece...and apparently a eureka moment occurred...because well, alas here we are...

Ms. Piggy to Me: Girl you are a WHOLE Muvah!!! If that ain't CREATIVE IDK what is.  

Also Me: You ain't never lied SIS!!! Not to mention a SINGLE mother for 13, 14 and 18 years concurrently :-) Just keeping food on the table and clothes on their back became an entire demonstration of CREATIVITY at it's finest! Cue "Dear Mama". Bout to make miracles yet again Thanksgiving.

Hooded Ms. Piggy: Aaaannnddd if you count faking the funk like everything was all good, crisis after crisis, trying to emotionally block for them, I am either a whole actress or a lineman who clearly missed my calling!

Well I be John Brown (RIP to the ally & abolitionist)...Here ye, here ye, here ye I am respectively challenging what we accept as a"creative flow".  Admittedly, I am rigidly Black and White...no gray areas, ever...like straight 0 to 100...and I take everything LITERALLY...like literally ha! So I have never considered myself to be the creative type in any way pre or during motherhood. 

So let me tell you this here...the world is missing out on some of our ultimate creators. Ironic that even creatives have kept creatives in a box, including themselves. So whether you've owned your creative flow or not...I'm here to tell you it's there boo and you can't lose it if you tried.

Like fr fr...from conception CREATION is so natural it is effortless, you can't even not be creative (intentional double negative there).  It "be" happening for months (creation of life)...and we are so darn powerful, we may not even know it! Shout out to all of my creatives that that resonated with as an analogy when expecting though not knowing for the massive potential that lies beneath, deep within...subconsciously..untapped but irrefutably present. Have you ever blown your own darn mind?? Let's normalize surprising ourselves. There is so much untapped potential growth in that. 

Ok so beyond the whole physically life threatening (3 times as much for black women) life giving (since the beginning of time for said same demographic) sacrificial LOVE life creating...y'all know what really STUCK out regarding a creative flow I never saw myself even having enough time for: The times I was legit creative even by y'alls standards!  Like the night before, when you find out that picture day at school is manana and you gotta create a whole new fancy edition of your child (hair, outfit) so that they are not looking like who done did it and ran...far, far away. Or how 'bout when your kid has a science project due and you do not have any money to buy any supplies for his grand idea for a project...but you use the most random things around the house to create something even better that he can be proud of still.

Or let's look at the fruit you bear or is it "bore"...Idk about that word choice tho because there's never a dull moment around here ;-)

But aaahhhh the 1st born...creative in so many ways, but her love is in makeup.  No, sorry, you will not see me with my face beat, yet another joy I just don't have time for...BUT remember all those cute hairstyles I stayed up doing and adorable outfits making sure her fit popped...that was me "creating" by planting the seed for her appreciation of beauty, artistry, unique style and the ability to coordinate (bam, bam, bam, RIP John Witherspoon)

And hoonnneeeyyy that middle child of mine.  She creates and recreates by challenging all the norms ever established.  She created her own path despite having special needs requiring physical, occupational and speech therapy, having ADHD and requiring 7 YEARS of weekly therapy and behavior modification to being accepted to college at 13 and starting her university journey at 14 in the middle of a whole pandemic!  This here was me creating triumph despite struggle. Creating a safe space for both her special needs and her gifts and talents despite the box labelers. Every time I encouraged the bedroom as her "lab" I gave her room to experiment on her own terms in our Brooklyn apartment...and in life.

And last but never least...my onliest son.  The athlete, engineer, public speaker, chef and tech guy who is so argumentative he literally makes stuff up just to prove his point...if based on those terms alone, he wears the crown of creativity.  He is me finding creative ways to get him to use his powers for GOOD...and this is him who has yet to arrive there (he's a Gemini, yes he is both). Welcome to having 3 teenagers.

As a mother I have no choice but to respect the creative process, it is inherent in the process of BECOMING.  I created life three times over and recreate a new me for every new phase that their development demands. 

Proclaim it: I am a creator.

My talent is thinking and my creative juices have been flowing since my water broke! The moral of the short story is: reject the concept that you've stopped creating.  No such thing.  There are levels to this, ebbs and flows and I charge you to embrace how everything about you can be a creative outlet and that your creativity does not have to be one dimensional.  Yea sure, you may be overdue to add another entry into that poetry book...but I sure do love what you did with your bathroom during this quarantine.  And yup it's time to reinvest in some new paint brushes to jump-start your gift again but the way you turned into Superman to be strong for your sister when she was going through something...I see you bro!

There are treasures in unexpected places. Draw from where you have been spending your time.  Do not label it as the theft of your passion. This creates a hostile imbalance where your creativity is already deemed as losing. Reconnect with your talents, rediscover them expressed in new, subconscious ways.  Look at me finding creativity in my Mommying for almost 20 years. Respect the harmonious blend between what consumes your time and the outlet you wish to "get back to".  Final thought: just like being a mother, it never left! You still got it love, it just doesn't look like what you're used to it appearing as...but guess what neither do you and that alone is creativity expressed!