Understanding Creativity

It’s not a job. It’s not a trend. It’s not always fun

Simone Gobbo
Aug 8, 2017 · 5 min read

Last week I woke up with an email from Medium. My eyes were foggy. My brain wasn’t functioning. The email was saying that I was a Top Writer in the Creativity section. They even attached a nice badge. I love nice badges.

I was chuffed. Obviously.

After a few moments, my brain started working a bit better and I started thinking about that email. A top writer? Me? In the creativity section? There must have been a mistake. There’s no way they are talking about me.

They were.


I An Not Creative

Growing up I never thought of myself as a creative person. I actually still think that associating the word creative with my name is a slight insult to people much more talented and creative than I am.

I cannot draw. I don’t play any musical instrument. I can’t paint. I am a pretty bad photographer. Don’t even get me started about videography.

I have a blog, but I can barely write.

Growing up I went to schools that, if anything, strived to kill your creativity. In my middle school years, arts and crafts class was a joke. My high school was as strict as it gets. Awesome for preparing future engineers. Pretty bad for instilling a creative side in us students.

This just to say that I never ever considered myself a creative person.

Things changed when I moved to the UK. Here I got exposed to truly creative people. Designers, illustrators, artists, musicians. You name it.

It’s at this exact point that I understood that there was a part of me that wanted to be like these people. That wanted to be creative. That wanted to use some sort of talent to express itself.

That’s where my journey looking for a more creative lifestyle started.


I Want To Be Like Them

I want to be clear on one point. I don’t want to be creative (or pretend to) because it’s cool and it will make for a great Instagram profile.

Creativity is something personal. Internal. Something that you use to shape your deepest feelings and ideas. Creativity is a process. It’s a way of living without caring too much about what people think. Focusing more on what you want. What you feel. What you can express.

In my case, writing is my favourite way of expression.

I have always been deemed as a pretty good writer. When I was 5 I used to “write” short books about my biggest passion: dinosaurs. Creative, uh?

I have breezed through every kind of written assignment all my school life. Words used to flow out of my fingertips. Everybody told me I should pursue some kind of humanistic degree. Put my talent to work and get the most out of it. Write a book. Teach. Write papers and essays.

Nothing of that happened. I decided to bury my creative side. I decided that creativity couldn’t possibly pay my bills. That I should go for something more pragmatic. Like electronics engineering (duh).

I abandoned my creative side thinking of it as a waste of time. I thought that I didn’t have enough talent to make a living out of it, so I decided that wasn’t worth anything. That was my biggest mistake.

Creativity is hard work. Creativity is persistence. Creativity is heart.


It’s Good For You

Creativity is not about money. Creativity is not about jobs. Creativity is not about a career to pursue.

I have learned that being creative is a choice. A state of mind.

You can choose to be creative. You should choose to be creative. It’s good for you. It’s all about looking at life from a completely different perspective. It’s about being open to something new. About being ready. About allowing yourself the right of expressing your thoughts and emotions.

The medium you choose is up to you. The quality of the output is relative. The emotions you live during the process are the only thing that count.

That has been the biggest switch in my mindset. Being creative is not something that you do for other people’s enjoyment. You don’t do it for success or fame. You decide to be creative for your own well-being. You decide to be creative because you enjoy that creative process and you couldn’t do without it.

When I write I feel free. I feel liberated. I feel like I am communicating with the deepest and most hidden part of my soul. No, it’s not always easy. It can be scary and painful, but I feel privileged nonetheless. Blessed that I can have this conversation with myself. Blessed that I can still feel something.

Being creative is not giving up this side. Not giving up the link between our deepest inner persona and our everyday-facade. Too often being creative is deemed as being weird, eccentric, strange. Truth is, creativity allows you to be yourself not caring about what other people think. It liberates you from the constant need of fitting in.

You don’t need to fit in because you are yourself. You give shape to your insecurities and you don’t need to project them in a fake persona to be part of a group. A boring, standardised, homogeneous group.

Creativity allows you to be yourself.


My tagline on social media says “Trying to make of creativity a way of life”.

I am not trying to pose. I am not trying to look cool or intellectual. That tagline is not even for you. It’s for myself.

That tagline reminds me that I owe to myself to not neglect my creative side. That I have a creative side. That I should always be open and ready to absorb every kind of sensation and emotion that I get exposed to every day.

That’s the bare minimum I can do.

We live one life. One, single life. Trying to live it to its fullest is the very bare minimum we can do.



Thank you for your attention. If you liked what I had to say, hit the heartbutton or drop me a comment, keep in touch following me. It would mean a lot.

I’d love to connect with you. Hit me up on Instagram, Twitter or drop me an email at simone@creativekernel.com!

Simone Gobbo

Written by

Digital Strategy @ Shape + Letter.

Welcome to a place where words matter. On Medium, smart voices and original ideas take center stage - with no ads in sight. Watch
Follow all the topics you care about, and we’ll deliver the best stories for you to your homepage and inbox. Explore
Get unlimited access to the best stories on Medium — and support writers while you’re at it. Just $5/month. Upgrade