Have you ever held back your creativity? Have you ever told yourself that it just isn’t the right time so you keep it all pent up? Have you ever been ready to burst with all the ideas floating around in your head?
If so, then I know exactly how you feel.
Recently, I realized I was holding in a bunch of ideas that weren’t making it onto the page. After a while, you can hold an idea so long that it is either forgotten or misshapen by the time you decide to use it. I decided it was time to release the Kraken of my creativity, and I started writing down every idea. I have been so accustomed to operating on someone else’s schedule in my career that I have had to adjust to releasing my creativity at my own pace. Sometimes that means my creativity bursts out in pages of content, but other times, it means it emerges on little slips of paper one idea at a time. Creativity must be harnessed while it is fresh, or we risk pushing it down until we extinguish the last spark of it.
Last week, I watched a video of a songwriter as he recorded himself writing the lyrics and music for a song. Simply watching him express his creativity was fascinating. There would be times when he would turn off the camera because he needed to focus on the process, and there would be times when it seemed he didn’t even realize the camera was there. His passion for his songwriting was clearly on display, and it sparked something in me.
I feel passionate about writing, but there are times when I suspend my creativity when I probably should not. Sometimes it is hard to find the spark and bring it back to full flame. Further, if I have the ideas and want to put them in print, it doesn’t do any good for me to toss them aside and hope I’ll remember them later. As a writer, I need to write, and I can’t keep thinking that I’ll have more time for it later. I’ve been doing that for too long while I pursued another career, and there are so many ideas that I never wrote down because I was working on someone else’s time. Now, I’m officially on my time, and I’m releasing the Kraken…not the scary one that eats people…but the creative one that grabs my headphones, opens my music app, and begins to write whatever is in my head.
Grab hold of your creativity when it needs to express itself, and don’t let go until you record your art in whatever your medium is. Too many ideas have been suffocated by the unrelenting pressure to toe the line. If you have set out on a freelance or small business career, use some of your time to release that pent up creativity. There are ideas just waiting to be seen and heard!
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Inspirational Verses for the Day:
Moses then said to the Israelites, “Look, the Lord has appointed by name Bezalel son of Uri, son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah. He has filled him with God’s Spirit, with wisdom, understanding, and ability in every kind of craft to design artistic works in gold, silver, and bronze, to cut gemstones for mounting, and to carve wood for work in every kind of artistic craft. He has also given both him and Oholiab son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan, the ability to teach others. He has filled them with skill to do all the work of a gem cutter; a designer; an embroiderer in blue, purple, and scarlet yarn and fine linen; and a weaver. They can do every kind of craft and design artistic designs. (Exodus 35:30-35, CSB)
All Things Subject to Change 