But I am not creative!

One of the best responses I have received to objecting that I am not very creative is “You got up and dressed yourself this morning. That’s creative.” On surface, this sounds almost like an insult but what my friend was trying to say is that we all have it in us to be creative. We put artificial blocks in our thinking and label ourselves as being more analytical or pragmatic, not creative. It’s almost as if there is a stigma (at least in the business world) against being right brained or too creative and parents often start discouraging children at very early age from being creative.

When I was a kid, I used to ask my older sister to draw pictures for me on my science homework since she was so good at it. Her drawings used to be so beautiful that my homework would always stand out from the other kids on those merits alone. I never could draw myself. Several years later, I had to take a mandatory art class and completely dreaded failing it. I was a straight A student otherwise and could not understand why I had to take this class. My first few attempts at painting were pathetic. Thankfully, my Art teacher was so patient and loved what she taught so much that overtime not only did I learn how to paint, I actually started enjoying it. I would spend hours outside of class painting and experimenting new things.

Now it has been many years since I painted and perhaps it’s time to reconnect with my creative side again. One thing that helps is having friends, teachers and mentors in life who encourage you to never say “But I’m not creative!”