A Lesson in Creativity
Creativity is the most important coping mechanism and the most challenging one to use. It is the unique manifestation of the energy and aura behind what makes you you, and me me, and you, and I, show up in the world very differently although perfectly and oh so necessarily. Like two individual puzzle pieces, without both of us being fully present the canvas is unfinished and the two empty spaces where we are supposed to fit in throw off the entire picture, thus preventing its completion.
Many of us have used substances to hide ourselves from ourselves. The not enoughs and the too muches argue for the number one spot in the soul of an addict’s worthiness. The solution for quieting this noise seems like a no brainer to anyone who has wrestled with this savage rhetoric. Drink. Use. Stop the madness. There is a reason that using substances to cope has been the demise of so many. The biggest reason is the simple truth that any mind-altering substance will always take us away from our creativity which is our greatest form of power and our purpose on this earth. We are all creative. Just because we are ourselves. Some of us have been told through mixed messages as children by our caretakers that we, just as we are, are not enough to win over their love or even their acknowledgement. And so, the inner critic dialogue begins, and we set out on life’s journey tirelessly looking for ways to be chosen and ways to connect to the external.
Lack of connection is a valid reason for numbing oneself into oblivion. However, it is the lack of connection to our true authentic selves through our creative uniqueness that is more destructive and devasting than the lack of connection we have to one another. Without a strong connection to ourselves, we are unable to fully and authentically connect to someone else.
The world incessantly tells us who we are, who we are not, and what we should be producing for a better chance at this connection, but the world does not promote or even allow us to be ourselves or to create. And if we attempt this brave act of vulnerability, we are shamed by more messages from the too muches and the not enoughs and we believe them. We have lost the ability to trust that we already know who we are and what we can create and so as we search for the answer to the question “how do I fit into this” we use substances to quiet the voices and we fall victim to the things that take us away from our purpose, and our creativity.
Creativity is within every human being and human experience on this planet. And it is yours and yours alone. You are already doing it right because you are doing it. Period. Do not let the committee in your head that was grandfathered into your thought process by the world at large convince you otherwise. You don’t belong to it, and it hasn’t earned its place in your existence, but YOU have. Because you are you.
If from where you are standing you see nothing you want from the world then just move. It is in the way that you stumble, fall, and fail that you will create. Failure is not the opposite of success. Stagnancy is. Drugs and alcohol are to an addict as fresh cement is to the poor unsuspecting insect that travels through it. There will never be a way out. There will never be movement and there will never be purpose if substances are involved because you will not be creating. You will only be fighting. Sent off to war by a system that was created to make you think you’re alive and fighting for a worthy cause only to be caught up in a battle that will never be over because there is nothing to be won. Until the armor is taken off you will always belong to the system, and you will feel too heavy to move and thus create. You will be owned by an external force and be used as a means to no end.
If you have worked hard or loved hard, with nothing or no one to show for it then turn inward and redirect your creative power to the brave and priceless task of clearing away the wreckage around your heart. There is a voice from within you screaming “yes, there is more to life than this, and all of those ideas that you have about what it really means to thrive, to love, and to be a part of actually do exist, you just haven’t witnessed them because you haven’t had the faith or the strength to create them yet.” This voice has been drowned out and distorted by the sounds of the critics but the more you try to listen for it the louder it will become. Try and listen for it.
Creativity presents itself in the way you smile at someone. Who you choose to love or not love. Your pronouns. Your milk to cereal ratio for the perfect dinner. Your courage in allowing yourself to be proud of an accomplishment in the face of your fear that tells you it’s undeserved. Creativity is asking for help when you don’t know the answer. It’s helping others when they appear lost. It’s saying yes to the possibility that there is a purpose waiting for you to be aware of. You are creative because you woke up today. Because you are reading this. Because you are listening first to yourself and then to others. You are creative because you are afraid and yet you’re still showing up, regardless of the capacity at which you do so. You are creative because you are trying. You are creative because you are alive.