1.31.23
Hello…We are combing Creative Close-Up and Reflections to Creative & Reflective Close-Up. We are trying new ideas for the blog and we decided this was better…we might arrange the title later in February. 😊
This is a personal creative and reflective close-up. This is a project that I wrote for my English Composition 1 class last fall semester last year. We were to write what on a topic that we value most. Mine was creativity. My professor almost told me to write about another topic, but I stuck to my guns and I’m glad.
Here it is.
Creativity
Creativity: It is the use of imagination or original ideas. The best description for this word. Numerous ideas from all walks of life. From artists, musicians, songwriters, painters, sculptors, and it is just not in the arts. You can find creativity everywhere. Creativity is something you can form from nothing, you can imagine anything you want to create, going to many places in your head to paint an artwork, write a story, take a photograph, or put together a piece of music, and a whole lot more.
For me it is something more personal. The word and the meaning impact me in all aspects. It is a part of who I am. I have always been lost in my own creative world, where I can just picture something or write my words into a story about anything, someone else or just me. I still do that sometimes. It is just a process of what story I want to tell. I have not painted or drawn anything for a long while. Like writers, artists or creative folk can have a creative block. I do not know what to paint, write, or just plainly create at this point, but it can be brief or sometimes extended periods. I do not worry too much about it because I know my spark will return.
This began when I was a small kid. I remember when I was in elementary school, one of my classmates, I think his name was Andy, was good at doodling stuff and I thought to myself, I wish I could draw like that…he makes it look so easy. He would draw funny characters on paper or sometimes on the chalkboard. He did not mind showing us his drawings and things like that. He wasn’t being a showoff, he just liked what he did. I do not know if he has pursued it. Maybe he did, maybe he didn’t. To him he thought it was a hobby. Between elementary and high school, my creativity just stopped and did not go any further. It just sat dormant for a while. I did do a few sketches of my own, but my personal experience with creativity awoke when I was a senior in high school. I had to take an art class. I thought to myself that it was a mistake and that it must have been a mix-up, typo, or something. I took the class, and it was there that I was able to connect myself with whatever I was able to do in the class and most of all, I loved it. We did small projects like sketching an active scene between people or more, I remember we had someone come in and watch us draw or paint or projects and give us a critique. If I can recall, we did go out and sketch what we saw outside the classroom. We did a few more small projects, just to really expand what we were capable of in terms of expanding what we have. I was able to appreciate it more as an upcoming artist. As the years went by, my newfound love to be artistic or just being creative has continued to this day.
I can think freely in terms of putting together an artwork by something other than just painting. I can use any method. As an artist, you can produce a whole lot of ways to tell or show people what you are talking about or just telling a story. I also like to create poems; I am starting to draft short stories. Sometimes I just create what I want in my head. Having a headspace to create is good also. If I do not need to use it, I can compartmentalize it, put it to the side and concentrate on other things that need my attention.
Being creative has also helped me in other aspects of my life. When I’m at home and I need to organize things, I just produce ways to use everyday objects that
you would not think to use. For example, I am in the middle of a home project, always home projects, where I am using those hanging curtain lights to put over my bed, and once I am done with that, I have already had in mind of putting curtains with those lights. I just need to measure, buy a curtain rod, and get the color of those curtains.
I am also creative at my job. Always thinking creatively and figuring out situations you may encounter, even if it is beyond your control.
Being a creative spirit has helped me not only in my life, but it has also helped me to learn from other people. I have read, listened to, and watched other people whom I admire and helped my creativity go to another level. The experiences they encounter in their life help them to learn and grow. That is the same as me. I take what I learned from other people and have a better understanding of what either that person or I have learned and how it can help us grow and shape us even more. In other words, it gives me inspiration to do more.
Can creativity be a useful tool to deal with everyday things? Most definitely. For example, take depression, you can create work from depression. Happiness, distress, or despair. People create things from what they are feeling. I find it interesting when I can produce a subject that has triggered a creative outlet. As I get older, I start to look at things differently with a creative mind or point of view.
Lastly, I have found that being creative has been, I guess, a great tool in my life to deal with what unexpected things I come across. If feels as though it gives you a sense of purpose to really see things and to keep going no matter what. I am sure that it will continue to give me a sense of peace and perspective. That is exactly what creativity really does for me. It gives me peace of mind.
I hope you enjoyed reading this piece of my writing. Enjoy your Tuesday, be safe, happy, healthy, and blessed.
Featured image: Pexel
