Stop Saying You’re Not Creative
Redeeming the definition and meaning of creativity
This is my ‘soapbox’ topic.
I think everyone has one of these. An issue or opinion that strikes a major chord in your gut, that you can easily get worked up about it in conversations. Meanwhile, everyone is left staring at you, not knowing where the outburst of passion came from.
Ya — that’s me.
Every time someone says, ‘I’m not creative’, it irks me a bit. I’m a graphic designer. I’ve also been drawing and illustrating since I was a child, recorded an album, a bunch of singles, and won at least two writing awards when I was in grade 4. I would say I’m what most would call the stereotypical ‘creative’ type.
Unfortunately, our society has deemed the visual arts as the only, or main form of creativity, because seriously — if I hear one more person say, ‘I can only draw stick figures’, or, ‘I can’t even cut in a straight line’, I will take it as a clear sign that correcting this misuse should probably be my unofficial side project. To be clear, some people can’t draw, and some people can’t cut a straight line to save their lives, but this is not what I’m referring to when I say that everyone is creative.
Creativity: The ability to transcend traditional ideas, rules, patterns, relationships, or the like, and to create meaningful new ideas, forms, methods, interpretations, etc.; originality, progressiveness, or imagination — Dictionary.com
Art and creativity are not the same things. The arts are a subcategory under the greater umbrella that is creativity. Listen, if you have an imagination — which we all have in varying degrees — you are creative.
It doesn’t need to manifest itself in painting, dance routines, or writing books. In fact, when you look at the definition of creativity, it’s a lot easier to put nearly everyone in the ‘creative’ category. And that is a good thing.
In an interview done by the Gospel Coalition, author and musician Andrew Peterson was asked to speak on the word ‘creative’, and it’s misuse in both Christendom and beyond,
I don’t like calling anyone “a creative” — but yes, I believe everyone is creative. It makes a difference, since that language implies there’s a special class of person who’s somehow more creative than everyone else. That’s just not true. Mathematicians are profoundly creative, as are architects and pastors and homemakers. It’s just not helpful to draw that line. Yes, there are artists, but as my friend Jonathan Rogers says, the arts only make up one slice of the pie of human creativity — and not the most important slice, either. (Andrew Peterson, Gospel Coalition 2019)
Once you’re able to recognize that being creative is more than a description for artistic people, it is important to take a moment and ask yourself what form of creativity you bring into the world. Below is a non-exhaustive list of some creative qualities and careers that don't stereotypically fall into what we think the term ‘creative’ looks like:
- Moms, Dads, homemakers
- Business owners and workers (Wallstreet, to Etsy — it’s all-encompassing)
- Scientists
- Teachers
- Speakers
- Organizers
- Planners
- Doctors
- Librarians
- Construction Workers
- Contractors
- Retail Employees
- Bankers
- Economists
- Police
For a long time, the word ‘creative’ felt like a descriptive term for an exclusive club. A club that was only meant for snobby artsy people who thought they were a rare gift to the human race.
If you had been longing to be apart of this exclusive club, be encouraged that it’s being disbanded and all are welcome. Be encouraged that you play an important role in the world to bring beauty through your unique, creative giftings.
Be encouraged that you play an important role in the world to bring beauty through your unique, creative giftings.
Creativity is for everyone, and the ability to be creative is an enormous gift, open to all. Find your thing. Find joy in it, and remember that you are creative, whether you can draw a straight line or not.
