500 Words On Being A Creative Soul
“There are painters
who transform the sun to a yellow spot, but there are others who, with
the help of their art and their intelligence, transform a yellow spot
into sun.” -Pablo Picasso
Growing up, I always had
a wild imagination; twigs would become fishing poles, boxes would morph
into spaceships, and grass could become lava. I would sit and draw for
hours at a time and write stories just for fun. All of that sounds
normal for a young child, but even as I have grown, I still see myself
looking at things in different perspectives. I can look at a circle and
begin to see more than a circle; images will start forming in my head
while colors mix to make a whole picture. My mind also won’t allow my
thoughts to be tidied up and put into neat piles; instead my ideas,
dreams, observations, and all manner of things run wild in my head.
Thinking logically comes easily to me, but in some situations my logic
gets tossed aside and my creativity takes hold. I am forever questioning
everything around me and craving adventure, and as much as I love
people, socializing takes an immense amount of energy out of me. I also
have to stick to a strict routine, so that I don’t feel anxious and
lost. I have been told my whole life that my creativity and wild
imagination are both gifts, that they are special. I excelled in not
only art, but also writing all through school, even up until now.
However, it still has been a challenge for me to view my creativity as a
positive thing. At times, it seems like it is just a nuisance since it
causes me to over-analyze everything from the books I read, to my
professors’ lectures, even my own work. I constantly ask myself if this
is really a gift or just a thorn in my side.
The
struggle to accept who I am actually drove me to look up some
information and write this article. What I found surprised me, but it
also answered all of my questions. Research has shown that creativity
and abstract ways of thought cause creative individuals to do some
things differently than their peers. They tend to have higher amounts of
physical energy, have both the characteristics of an introvert and an
extrovert, combine discipline and responsibility, and escape gender role
stereotyping (Csikszentmihalyi). I never understood why I had such a
random combination of traits, but once I read that information it made
sense. I also found out that we tend to be some of the most resilient
people, able to bounce back quickly from bad situations, using our
experiences as fuel for our work. We are complex individuals who can be
hard to understand; we can barely understand ourselves half of the time,
but we eventually figure stuff out. Maybe being creative is not such a
bad thing. Maybe it is a gift that can push us through life and help us
succeed. To all of the other creative folks out there: I hope you read
this and see that your creativity is something that is worth being
thankful for.
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