Creativity Marbles
I love creative minds. Making abstract connections is fun, and interesting, and solves problems. I think creativity is like using any muscle- the more you use it the stronger it gets. I don’t know how other creative minds work. I’ll tell you how my creative mind feels.
Imagine getting an idea randomly- driving in the car, at work, trying to fall asleep in bed- and writing it on a marble. Then you see someone else’s marble and, getting excited, get a new idea written on a new marble. Some days I get several marbles. Some days I only get one, and occasionally I get none.
Well these are my shiny new marbles, and I love them, I see possibility, and I want to use them! How do you store all these marbles until you have time to use them? Well you can put them in a bag, right? Well, I have literally over two dozen idea marbles I haven’t gotten to, maybe more. I need a lot of bags.
What does having a lot of bags look like? For me, it’s a notebook app on my phone, with probably thirty pages of ideas typed out. It’s also notes scribbled on a dry erase board. It’s also texting my friend with ideas, and managing Pinterest boards.
So here I am, with bags and bags of dozens of idea marbles. Sometimes I feel like they roll away and get lost. Mentally, they take up a lot of room. I get frustrated with myself, because it’s hard to focus on studying things I need to study, because I am distracted by all these shiny idea marbles in my head.
Clutter. I have mental clutter and literal clutter because of this. I have a cabinet, a shelf, and under bed storage for my art supplies. I have notes and notes in my phone. I have endless photos in my phone that need to be organized. Send Help.
I talk excitedly about projects I want to work on, that probably make me sound like I “lost my marbles” in the sense that most people use that phrase. It seems like the only way I can turn my brain off is when I am reading, or physically doing something.
In the 6th grade, I took a drawing assessment and was allowed to attend art classes with freshmen at the local high school before my own classes started. I continued to take art classes throughout my own high school years. I eventually obtained an Associate in Art from my local community college.
In 2018 I started an Etsy shop to destress. In order to stock my shop with items, I had to start drawing and painting again, which I hadn’t done in years. This was a lot of fun, although as an adult I didn’t have hours to spend on each project, so I made quick artwork. I also quickly realized that selling is not easy, and I started reading and listening to podcasts about marketing. Suddenly my Etsy shop was not as enjoyable.
Somewhere along the way since starting my shop, my ideas, my stress relief activity, started to feel like idea marbles. I started using my creative muscles again but I lacked the free time of childhood to really engage.
I wouldn’t change having a creative mind. I just need to manage it better. How does your creative mind feel and how do you manage it?
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