The Fear in Creativity

When I was younger, I grew up thinking my dreams and ambitions were not reachable. I thought being a singer or a radio tv show host was not practical. I remember thinking it was embarrassing to want to have a unique or out of the ordinary career. It made me feel out of place because everyone else around me wanted to be a doctor, lawyer or teacher. I am still confused on why I used to feel this way.

I had a supportive mother who told me I could do anything I wanted in life, yet I still did not believe in myself. Usually when you’re a kid, you think that anything in the world is possible. It is only until later in life when you start to think more pragmatically, and that optimism and hope dies down a little. Apparently, I was an exception. It wasn’t until later in my high school career going into college, when I realized if I really wanted to make something happen, I could do it.

My love for reading and writing increased when I took a Freshmen honors English class in high school. The class opened my eyes to how powerful storytelling is. I found it so interesting how every story or piece of writing is a reflection upon society. I learned that writing was an art form that captures the good and bad moments of life through words.

English showed me the beauty in sharing experiences and perspectives through words, which triggered my passion for writing.

From that point on, I knew I wanted to have a career that revolved or even dabbled around writing. At the same time, I was battling with my thoughts about not feeling creative or talented enough to pursue this career. For so long, I believed my ideas weren’t worthy or that nobody would care about what I had to say. I had a little voice in my head that told me I couldn’t make a living off of writing. I was influenced by the fact that creative or artistic lines of work such as wanting to be a writer, a photographer, or an artist are not usually seen as valuable in society — mostly due to the financial aspect of it. To this day, I still have these negative thoughts about my abilities. It’s a battle between wanting to pursue a creative career path but not feeling creative enough to actually be successful in it.

The truth is, it does not matter how creative or talented you are. There is this notion where we believe we have to be extraordinarily good at something in order to succeed in it. This belief that our creative pursuits are not valid unless it is “genius.” We are scared of taking the leap in showing what we have created to the world because of what others might think. We are scared of coming off as cheesy or unoriginal. We are scared that we’ll run out of ideas and be stuck. We hold back because we don’t trust our own competence or talent.

We are conditioned with having doubt and pessimism towards ambitious dreams.

The list of reasons to push away our desire to pursue a creative field of work can go on and on. At the end of the day, the only valid opinion is yours. If you’re passionate about something, then go for it. If you believe that your ideas or work are not profound or original, just know that everything in life has been done before. Everything has already been said, written, painted, or put in a song. What changes is that everyone has a whole new different perspective that they can bring to the table. No one is the same. There is no one like you and your ideas — that is the beauty of art. There are so many ways art can be expressed with different experiences, perspectives, ideologies and values that can be shared through creative expression.

Your work does not have to be genius in order for it to be good — it just has to be yours.

What makes someone successful in their creative pursuits is not their talent, but rather their determination and willingness to create something — whatever it may be. We have to remind ourselves that even when we may fail at times, we are still good enough to keep trying. Success comes with practice, and consistency. Our thoughts, ideas, and any type of creative work we make are worthy to be shared.

It all starts and ends with the belief in ourselves.