Have you ever wonder if you live a creative life?
In both our lives, we have always perceived creativity to be something reserved for artists. The fuel behind amazing art pieces, performances, or even advertisements. Those heart-stopping campaigns we have seen so many times, of course, has loads of creativity behind it. However, we never thought of creativity as accessible to every person or something that is accessible to everyone.
We now know that this is not the case. Anyone and everyone has the ability to be creative. Consciously, this makes sense.
However, have you considered whether or not you are living a creative life? Have you ever enjoyed doing something as a form of creative expression for the pure joy and satisfaction of it-- regardless of the outcome?
This week, we are talking about our goddess, Elizabeth Gilbert, the author of Eat, Pray, Love; and her new inspiring book called Big Magic. It is a collection of essays exploring the idea of creativity: what it is and what it means to live a creative life. We even dare to say that it is actually a guide to pursuing your passions. It is full of advice and encouragement. It is simply a delicious read that we fully recommend-- and here is why…
Our core takeaways:
1. Gilbert talks about creativity and ideas as “living entities” that are out there searching for a human to embrace them and bring them into being. How many times have your thought about something, do nothing about it, and then suddenly you see how someone else executed that exact idea. The theory in this example is that an idea can chose you first, but if you do not pursue the idea, that idea will go looking for someone else.
2. Ideas and creativity are fickle and we should treat them with respect and reverence. It is like having a guest in your mind- guiding you toward action and something more interesting. You should make an idea or creative inspiration feel at home. And no, you can’t ask to your creativity to pay your bills, as you don’t ask your guests to pay for the toilet paper they use at your home.
3. It may feel paradoxical to think that creativity should not pay the bills because you might be thinking “creativity and ideas drive business and can produce great things of value”. Well, yes and no. They can, but that shouldn’t be the first reason why you are using them. Treat them with respect.
4. {Our favorite} Unleashing creativity can be scary. What about rejections and failure? Well, it can be as horrible and hard as you decide. For example, Gilbert used to create a game out of receiving rejection letters- always seeking “the worst” as if it was an achievement. But this was brilliant because she didn’t allow failure to become an obstacle to her dreams. We know it sounds easy, but guess what, it is easy! It’s all about mindset.
So, without further spoilers, we want to invite you to listen to our podcast where we discuss more about this incredible book and about living a creative life and how you can do it too!
Don’t forget to leave your comments or connect with us on social media. The best conversations happening after the show. We would love to hear from you, especially because this is a topic near and dear to our hearts.
Love,
V+E