Creative Time – part 2

If you are not allowing yourself time every week to create/build/draw/compose as you wish, you are needlessly shortchanging yourself. You may even be shortening your life.

I am not trying to make you wrong for not doing so, because it has taken me years to realize how vital "creative time" can be. It may seem like a needless luxury, something you can take up when you "retire", but for most people the time you spend creating is the time when you are truly alive.

Creating is "doing something", not sitting passively and being "done to". Watching TV is not creative time even if you are watching HGTV or the shows where they design and build choppers and exotic cars. Creative time is building your own motorcycle, or car, or remodeling your own kitchen as well as writing your book, etc..

There is no money excuse for not creating. If you don’t have the money to build a motorcycle yet, design one. Pencils and paper, even software is available for people living from day to day.

Creating is not something you do for an audience. If your nerves are up to it and you choose your audience well, then feel free to show off the results of your creative activity. Be aware, however, that "toxic individuals" are attracted like flies to any creative activity and they will do their best to dismiss your efforts as amateurish and insignificant.

These toxic individuals are the reason that much of the population is afraid to create anything. These toxic individuals often set themselves up as "experts" in the fields of art and literature and try to act as gatekeepers to determine what is acceptable and in vogue. Do yourself a favor and cut these people out of your life if you ever expect to achieve anything of value.

Really talented people are not threatened by others and will find ways to encourage you to continue. Most will say "Keep writing every day" or "Keep painting" if you ask them for advice. That is time-tested advice. You learn writing by writing and painting by painting. Same with rebuilding cars or remodeling houses. There is only so much you will learn by watching others. To grow in any field, you need to get busy and DO something, preferably every day.

I take time to create something new every day because it is that important to me, but there was a time when I was only able to find a few hours a week in which to create. When the pressure of business made me cut out those few hours, I quickly found myself on a downhill slope emotionally. When I finally realized that creative time was a lifeline to sanity, I put creative time back in to my life and have never looked back.

If, on reading this, you are still skeptical, I suggest that you look around in your environment and see who would be displeased if you were to take time for creative activity. If there is someone like that, they will feel threatened if you were to become more cheerful or successful. You need creative time in your life, but you may have to take steps to make sure that you have that freedom. Creative time is like water to a thirsty person. There are a few people who delight in cutting off your water.

I will suggest some ways you can overcome obstacles and get creative time in my next post.