Finding Your Artistic Flair Later in Life
It’s Never Too Late
How often have you heard it stated that “True artists are born that way”, “They are gifted from birth”, “They have always been an artist and have always known it”?
However, these sayings are not entirely true. No-one is born knowing how to play the piano, or how to draw or sculpt or write. These all involve skills and techniques that have to be taught.
Conversely, one can be very good at a skill that one actually does not enjoy. Some people buy into the myth and think if they are ‘good’ at something then that is what they should be pursuing.
How many years are wasted doing something one is talented at but hates?
One also might LOVE something, that currently, they are not that good at. But spending time developing a skill that one loves, often can result in improvement and at least enjoying the journey along the way.
I heard or read an analogy recently that I really related to in my own artistic journey. It was about seeds.
Some seeds have lain dormant in the ground for thousands of years before germinating into life. Did you know scientists grew a date palm recently from a seed nearly 2000 years old found in Israel during excavations?
Seeds often can lay dormant for years waiting for the right conditions before they germinate.
So too with creativity.
Some people are born into a family that recognizes their interest in certain areas and provides the environment for their child to experience all types of creative endeavors. They then provide them with both the nurture, encouragement, and materials to be able to develop their interest.
Other children, who may be just as able creatively, are born into a family who does not nurture or encourage or even provide the right environment for creativity. They may not ‘discover’ their creative streak or interest until much later in life. And then as an adult, they may choose to create the right environment for their creativity to ‘germinate’ and start to flourish.
So the only difference between the two artists is the timing of the creative germination. Not that it was not ripe and ready to be nurtured right from the start.
Some of us have been lucky enough to have families who nurtured our creativity from the beginning of our lives and provided opportunities for us; others (like myself) have had to wait until midlife to discover and then nurture ourselves as creatives.
It is damaging to perpetuate myths such as “I was born this way” as it creates competition in people, superior attitudes and the belief that art cannot be ‘taught’ but one must somehow be born with a talent that just ‘appears’ as if by magic and is inaccessible to anyone else.
Just as we are all sexual beings by nature, we are also all creative souls by nature (whether you choose to express these aspects of yourself is up to you).
Whether it is by cooking a cake, or enjoying music, dance, drawing, or walking in nature or on the beach, we all have a side that revels in being free-spirited, in being able to express our individuality and creativity in whatever way we have found that allows us the greatest enjoyment and freedom.
It is not about being ‘the greatest’ at it. It is about experiencing and allowing ourselves the freedom and time to let our little creative selves or ‘seeds’ germinate and grow and come to life in our souls.
So do not ever feel it is too late to be creative. Or feel that you don’t have a ‘creative bone’ in your body.
We all have the potential to be creative, and for some of us, it is further developed than for others. Some may have an inherent leaning towards music or another artistic expression that naturally arises as a curiosity and interest that they then may develop.
Others may be attracted to and emotionally connect with the artist’s unique expression seeing them as ‘gifted’.
If you find you have a ‘gift’ in a certain area, be thankful if your early environment allowed you to express and develop it from a young age. If you found your ‘love’ or ‘gift’ of a certain art much later in life, nurture it.
Protect your creative self as its developing. Protect yourself from those who may criticize and put you down due to you not having done it all your life.
Our creative selves are all like seeds inside of us. Some have germinated early, some not yet, and others only just started. There is room in the garden for all.
Do not put on a pedestal only those plants that are strong and vibrant and dominate the landscape. Look for the gentle little seedlings pushing high into the air. Encourage them to grow. Make light and room for them. Do not trample them down as unimportant just because they don’t yet dominate the skyline.
Let us all grow together, and acknowledge that not all started off with environments that allowed them to germinate from birth. Some might have only just started to germinate.
Onwards and upwards.
