Growing your creative mindset

Ever since I was a little kid, I always thought I wasn’t creative. To be creative meant two things. You were good at drawing, or you were good at writing. Anything else meant you weren’t creative. And I sucked at drawing, and I hated writing, so I always thought I was not creative. Growing up, I limited myself in what I could do. So, I stuck to subjects like math, science, and other subjects that were seen as more important. As I got older, I realized creativity is not limited to drawing and writing. It was how you thought and how you represented yourself. I thought that maybe I was more creative than I thought. Maybe, if I tried enough, I could be creative myself.

Being creative

At the start of my journey, I was lost and unsure if I was doing things right. I felt stuck, and I was not sure if I was going in the right direction. It was only after a year I realized this is a muscle that you have to practice, and it takes time to develop this muscle. In the same way, it takes time, effort, and planning to grow your chest and legs (this is my favorite group of muscles to work out that’s why I used them as the example), and it takes the same effort to grow your creative mindset.

Practicing

I first started in photography, and I still enjoy it. However, it isn’t something I look forward to every day. Then I went into videography, and while it does interest me more, it requires a lot of time from me. So I was feeling stuck again. Then, I discovered blogging and writing. I should rephrase that, I relearned blogging and writing. I always knew what a blog was, but because I hated writing, I didn’t want to try it because it meant that I had to write every day.

The thought of blogging started with me seeing people online talking about blogging and how much money one can make. Yes, I saw how much you could make and it impacted my decision. I tried it out, and I started writing about stuff I like. The next thing I knew, I was writing every day. I would actively look for ways to improve my writing. I was enjoying writing, something I would NEVER imagine myself liking. But it stuck, and I was enjoying it so much. It was then I realized that it wasn’t writing that I hated, but it was all the other things. Being forced to write about certain things, being told the way I thought was wrong, and grammar. Now I know grammar is necessary, but I never understood it, and it was the reason why writing was my WORST subject. But the funny thing is after finding the joy in writing, I try to improve my grammar and I take intentional steps to improve. Now, writing is all I want to do.

Another thing that I found joy in is storytelling. I looked back at the things I enjoyed photography, videography, writing, and editing. All those things require storytelling and delivering a story. It’s crazy, but storytelling ignited old interests, storytelling also ignited my interest in videography and photography. Now, all I think about is how I can create better stories.

Learning to be creative means finding outlets that help you showcase your work. It’s also a mindset, practicing being creative and changing the way you think. I am also growing and putting in the reps, and I am looking forward to seeing what it looks like in 2024.