We were born creative without shame or judgment.
If you are like me, you are immediately calling
[email protected]#$ on that statement. But I will prove it.
Give a child a box of crayons. They don’t ask for directions or need them. They are naturally creative and inherently curious. They get lost in their own world while creating without judgment or care for the result. I am dumbfounded when I ask my daughter, “What are you drawing?” to get the response, “I don’t know yet.” - freaking amazing.
At some point, as we grow up, we get judged on our creativity and feel some piece of shame. Or we started learning what “good” art looks like and realized we don’t measure up. We start to condition ourselves to think we are not creative since we learn to judge our own work. Enough shame to maybe not try again, or we judge our own work before we even start.
This feeling of judging our work is worst when learning something new since you often copy other artists. Growing an imposter syndrome-like feeling since you are simply regurgitating other’s ideas. Austin Kleon wrote a book entitled,
Steal Like an Artist; he calls out that all great artists steal. We collect and synthesize ideas, and those unique connections are naturally different and new works.
I want to have a childlike abandonment when it comes to being creative without judgment and sometimes starting without knowing my destination.
Get out a box of crayons and hack on,
Silk
