The Power of Creativity
Written by Charlotte, Children and Young People 'Expert by Experience'
The majority of people who would describe themselves as not having a creative bone in their body, don’t realise that you can teach yourself to be creative. I don’t believe that you’re born with creativity. You’re not born being able to read and write so why would creativity be something you’re just simply born with? My journey with creativity has been a long one and I’ve had a love/hate relationship with it too. I can’t pinpoint when my creative brain kicked into play, I just know that I enjoyed being elsewhere in my mind and as far away from reality as I could get. School wasn’t great and simply put, I wouldn’t want to do it again in a hurry. I’m grateful for a lot of the experiences I had as they have made me who I am today, however I’d have rather not had dealt with all the stress of school society and the bullies that went along with it. This was when I really took to drawing I guess.
I want to note here that although art is the main category people think of when you say the word ‘creativity’, this isn’t what it’s limited to. I’ll talk more about this a little bit later!
Drawing, in all its forms, has been my way of expressing myself for as long as I can remember. Did I start out being able to draw? Ha, not a chance. I could draw basic things out of a ‘how to draw’ book and that was it. I knew I wanted to be good at something and I loved watched people draw on YouTube. So, I did a quick search on YouTube; ‘how to draw a face for beginners’ and that’s where everything started.
The ridiculous amount of videos I watched both kept my mind busy and increased my self-confidence, especially when I looked at the paper and it resembled something remotely to what was on the screen. I’ll ALWAYS tell people that you can learn to draw. You’re not born with the talent. I’d spend hours just watching videos and drawing, and I was noticing I was getting better and better the more I drew.
At the same time my mental health hadn’t been good for a long time. I was struggling with suicidal thoughts, self-harming, anxiety and incredibly low mood. Drawing (and creativity) allowed me to go into my own little world and temporarily escape some of those negative feelings; it provided me with a safer coping mechanism to self-harm, and helped me create that sense of control.
I am not going to pretend I could use the coping technique of drawing all the time, my mind didn’t always think of it and I wasn’t always able to us my best judgement and pick the healthiest option. But no one should beat themselves up for that, all progress is important.
That said I took to drawing wherever and whenever I could (it’s safe to say that psychiatric wards can be pretty boring places). I had pictures coming out my ears and ended up having to give a bunch to my mum just so I had room in my bed space. Anything arty or anything that involved using my imagination became my literal saviour during those years.
As I was saying earlier, creativity isn’t just art. You can use a creative mind in so many different activities; dancing, writing, photography, comedy, filmography, digital art, crafts, creating a business, decorating - to name just a few. If you want to improve on something you love, or just get into something that requires creativity then GO FOR IT! Don’t worry about whether your good or the best at it because at the end of the day, does that really matter? You’re doing something for you and developing a creative mindset that I will argue is within everyone - you just have to find it.
