You Are Meant to Live a Creative Life
Do you consider yourself to be a creative person? If you’re like most people, you may dabble in a hobby here or there, but probably don’t consider yourself to be creative. We think that creativity is reserved for the gifted few – the artists of the world. For the rest of us, we might try to squeeze in a hobby – like painting or arts and crafts – and hope that we get around to our ‘creative outlet’ when we have time. While artistic hobbies can be creative and add value to our lives, it doesn’t get to the heart of what it means to live a creative life, or why it’s so important. Living a creative life is more about how we approach the common aspects of our life, rather than what we do specifically.
When you start to truly live a creative life, you begin to cultivate a more compelling and present life. Daily experiences feel lighter and more delightful. You become more adaptable and better at handling life’s challenges with a sense of openness and ease.
So how can you begin to approach life with a creative mindset, and what would that actually mean for your life?
Same Problem, New Perspective
Taking on a creative mindset can help you unblock even long-standing problems because it lets you see from a new perspective. You begin to recognize that there are multiple pathways and tools to reaching the same goal.
Maybe you’ve struggled your entire life to stick to an exercise routine. Running or going to the gym just never seemed to stick. After years of trying and beating yourself up for your lack of discipline, you’ve accepted that you’ll never get fit. However, you’ve always been drawn to martial arts movies. You admire the skill and focus of fighters, as well as their integrity and self-mastery. Even though you never saw yourself as someone who’d be good at combat sports, one day you decide to check out your local martial arts gym. Surprisingly, you really take to it and can’t wait to go back. Before you know it, you’ve built up a regular exercise routine and you’re finally getting in shape. The best part is that it didn’t feel like a chore – you really enjoyed it!
When we live a creative life, we’re always on the lookout for possibilities within the limitations we face. It helps us come up with innovative or adaptive solutions. This is because we develop the capacity to take seemingly unrelated ideas – such as exercising regularly and our intrigue for martial arts – and put them together to come up with a new idea. This is incredibly important because it can help us break free of narratives that we’ve built up about ourselves and create new opportunities. In this case, the narrative shifts from, ‘I’m just not disciplined’, to something like, ‘I feel really motivated when I’m building a functional skill, like combat training.’
Experiencing Life through Fun & Play
A creative mindset also teaches us the value of approaching our activities with a sense of fun and playfulness rather than focusing solely on the end result.
Perhaps you love playing soccer because you often enjoy trying unexpected moves to out-maneuver your opponent. It’s fun to experiment and each discovery motivates you to keep growing as a player. Or maybe you start combining unexpected flavors while cooking (like asparagus and balsamic vinegar, or beets and pumpkin oil) and discover you can enjoy eating vegetables.
When you approach activities with this sense of playfulness, it opens you up to following creative impulses more often. I remember coming home one day with a little gold bowl I found at the thrift store. I felt so inspired that I cleared my entire entryway and redesigned it from scratch. I ended up creating a beautiful space that was also far more functional. No more lost keys and forgotten sunglasses. It was a win-win. But the biggest takeaway was how liberating it felt to follow my slightly “crazy” idea without feeling like I needed to edit myself.
When we allow ourselves to be playful and explore without worrying about making mistakes, we actually become far better at what we do. We learn quicker and engage more deeply in activities. We explore without fear of failure and develop better and more innovative solutions than if we only focused on results.
Adapting to Life’s Expected (and Unexpected) Hurdles
Of course, by consciously cultivating a creative mindset, you also develop more flexibility and the capacity to adapt to life’s circumstances.
For example, let’s say that you get stuck in rush hour traffic every day on the way home from work. When you take on a creative mindset, you might turn the situation into a challenge. What side streets can you take to bypass traffic and even beat the Google Maps ETA? Now you’ve turned a tedious experience into a fun game.
Or maybe you play your favorite podcast and begin to look forward to the slow, almost meditative drive home. It might even be an opportunity to change up your routine. You might opt to go to a nearby gym after work so that you miss rush hour altogether.
When we live a creative life, we develop the ability to adapt to whatever life throws at us. Not only does it allow us to make the best of a situation it also helps us to accept that there are many things we don’t have control over. This is incredibly liberating and helps us develop a lighthearted approach to life. Instead of feeling powerless or resentful, this approach builds our confidence that we can handle life’s setbacks.
Cultivating Wonder & Receptivity
Finally, as we become more flexible and adaptable, letting go of how we think things should be, we learn to become receptive to the world as it is. This ability to notice is the starting point of inspiration, which then fuels the creative act.
Anybody can benefit from cultivating a disposition of presence and allowing it to influence daily acts. Maybe a photo on Instagram inspires you to take the time to set a beautiful table with flowers or candles. This simple act makes mealtimes feel more enchanting, causing others to linger over conversations just a bit longer. Perhaps you start to notice the beauty of your neighborhood and begin to take long morning walks to enjoy the sights and sounds around you. You might find that tuning into unexpected moments can inspire you to try new activities and skills. For example, a stimulating conversation with a friend about music spurs you to start taking piano lessons.
When we begin to live a creative life, we naturally become more present and notice more of what’s around us with a sense of wonder. We develop a greater sense of curiosity and become more inclined to act on moments of inspiration. The seemingly mundane, everyday experiences can begin to reveal a new depth. Little by little, these moments help us to craft more dynamic and fulfilling lives.
Live a Creative Life to Cultivate Agency & Fulfillment
Learning to live a creative life, in the true sense of the word, changes how we approach life. It has the power to make the weight of life feel lighter, helping us see beyond our routines and obligations. We encounter the same daily challenges but with a different lens. A lens full of wonder and curiosity that provides the sense that life is a joyful affair. It’s an inherently adventurous approach to living life. Creativity embeds us more deeply into the world while simultaneously equipping us to shape our daily experiences and the world around us. When we choose to explore and enact change in ourselves and our environments we cultivate a deeper sense of agency.
For this reason, it’s important to recognize that creativity is not reserved for “artists” of the world. Nor is it confined to a specific set of activities. It’s a capacity ingrained in each one of us that we can bring into every aspect of our lives. Once we do, we can begin to live more compelling and fulfilling lives.