Creativity is not stagnant, but fluid. It is never careless, destructive, or selfish, Creativity is not a singular moment, the often referenced “lightbulb” moment. It never loses identity. It merely disappears when approached with disrespect. Creativity is not a gift, but a decision. However, it is also not a switch. Creativity does not discriminate, as anything is a possibility. It does not want to be alone. Creativity is a relationship between the creator and the creation. Creativity cannon be defined by a region. It is a universal language between everything in nature. Creativity is not greedy as it is believed that the energy of creativity grows in correlation with building a community. But creativity never lies. Rooted in authenticity, creativity is a point of view. Creativity is not weak. When met with adversity, creativity remains resilient. Creativity is not a desire, creativity is a necessity.
I believe that too often we spend our time focused on what is, rather than what isn’t. It is a perfectly normal, human instinct. But there are two sides to a coin, and two sides to a perspective. One of the hardest things to do is to define creativity. While it has its proper definition, try defining it as a feeling and it becomes much more difficult. I ran into this problem while in search of creativity. In fact, right after I attempted to fully define creativity, and I think it was fairly decent, it didn’t feel complete. There was something missing because there wasn’t any contrast to show if that was the full picture. So in trying to define what it is, I decided to try to define what it wasn’t.
Have you ever had those moments where you have this brilliant idea, that “lightbulb” moment and then it was gone a moment later? Well, that was a choice. It is not that the creativity just up and left, you didn’t pay attention to it. Those moments are invitations. They are invitations to explore something deeper, they are a billboard on the side of the road that says, “Stop in 300 miles for Split Pea Soup” (if you have driven highway 5 in CA, you know where I am talking about). You can either choose to remember it, focus on it, act on it, or not.
But I don’t want you to feel that there is some sort of consequence for not pursuing this. Some sort of guilt that you aren’t taking the first idea and running with it. While creativity is a powerful thing, it does need guidance. I have started many companies over the past decade but I probably could have started a dozen more with some of the ideas that have hit me at random times. Part of this process is discernment. Creativity is only going to present you ideas, you have to decide what to do with them. But that is also the exciting part about it.
Whether you decide to act on a creative idea is no matter. What matters is that you write them down. WRITE THEM DOWN. We’ve all said, “Don’t worry, I will remember this one.” But you really won’t, and especially not in the same way. Writing down your ideas not only gets it out of your brain, but it reminds you of the emotion and the feeling when you eventually do forget.
I encourage you to also write things down in a notebook. I am not saying you need to have three different notebooks like I do, but you need a space that is solely for your creativity. If you don’t have a notebook with you, then write it on your device as a temporary solution. But write it down when you get home because the act of writing has a different impact on the creative mind. If you decide to pass on a concept or an idea, you will have felt the feeling of creativity, and allowed the brain to process it at a pace that it is meant to process it at. Creativity is not a sprint race, so recording it as fast as possible and moving on is not the objective.
Lastly, take the challenges you are currently encountering and don’t look at them for what they are, look at them for what they are not. Find the opposite in the situation and you may discover that maybe your challenges are not as scary as they seem.