Exploring the Tribes: What IS This Thing Called "Creativity?"

I suppose it's more or less inevitable that — with all these new "tribes" springing up — we're going to be spending some time contemplating our many options.

So far, my favorite idea for a tribe is that embodied by #CreativeCoin, and it's perhaps also my firmest commitment, so far.

Which is actually slight odd, because...

Flowering bush in our yard...

The Funny Thing Is...

... I never really considered myself particularly "creative," growing up.

Aside from the fact that I was a solid "C+" student in art classes from elementary school through graduating high school, I almost always felt awkward during creative activities. Although I could sometimes "see" ideas in my head, my ability to execute them only seemed to result in an impressive collection of what one might call "Art Lumps."

Oddly enough, I grew up in a pretty artistic family. In my extended family, we had at least 3-4 painters, a musician with a major philharmonic orchestra, a dancer at the Royal Danish Ballet and a few other "hobbyists" whose abilities seemed to far outshine my own clumsy expressions.

Don't get me wrong, I love art and the creative spirit, and have a great deal of admiration for those with a talent for expressing and bringing them to the world!

However, by the time I went to college, I had pretty much decided that art wasn't my gig, and that I wasn't creative much, and I could probably look forward to a nice comfortable life as a bookkeeper or filing clerk.

Moving water...

Many Years Passed...

I don't remember precisely when it was, but sometime in the late 1990's, I found myself at a week long psychology and spirituality retreat... and one of the "diversions" in between workshops was something the facilitator called "Creativity Night."

I suppose that — for most people — that might be classified as "fun," but it actually filled me with mild dread and some anxiety... enhanced by the memories of my laughable "art lumps" of a time long gone.

So one afternoon (before "Creativity Night") I found myself talking to this fellow... Richard (who went on to become a good friend), and we bonded over our shared dread of "having to be creative" on command while feeling like the floor tiles below us were actually far more creative than us.

Fortunately for us the retreat coordinator overheard our budding pity party and decided to join in. The result was an expanded perception of what "creativity" actually means.

Branch in the water

Creative Non-Fiction

Although I had a dream of growing up to "write stories" already when I was seven and my friends wanted to become firefighters and astronauts, another nail in the coffin of my creativity was my ineptitude at creating believable (and relateable) characters and plots for works of fiction.

But I have always kept a journal, and I have always enjoyed sharing "observations" on life and the strange quirks of the Human Condition.

And that is where I "found" my creativity, sometime in the earliest days of this thing we call "blogging." Human stories. Explorations of the psyche. The Struggle is Real! Or maybe it isn't... That, along with a willingness to poke at many of society's "sacred cows."

I'm not exactly irreverent, but I'm not exactly politically correct, either. More than anything, though... I have found that I am often irrelevant. Because, after all, I'm not really creating any kind of "useful" writing; writing that can be marketed and sold.

But I have pretty much made peace with that.

The brightness of nature

Creativity is MANY Things

Perhaps it would be too much of a catch-all to say that "Creativity can be pretty much whatever you want it to be."

But there's an element of truth there.

My friend Richard and I were keeping ourselves fenced in by the notion that "creativity" necessaruly meant artistic expression. And it really doesn't.

One of the dictionary definitions looks like this:

The ability to transcend traditional ideas, rules, patterns, relationships, or the like, and to create meaningful new ideas, forms, methods, interpretations, etc.; originality, progressiveness, or imagination.

Doesn't actually mention art or music or performing arts, at all.

In fact, Richard creating some day trading software using unique algorithms of his own making... which has helped him NOT having to go to a job for over 15 years. And that's definitely creative, in its own way.

Just like the words I write here may not be "a painting," or "poetry," but they are still creative, in their own way!

Thanks for reading, and have a great week!

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(Another #creativecoin creative non-fiction post)

What's YOUR definition of creativity? Comments, feedback and other interaction is invited and welcomed! Because — after all — SOCIAL content is about interacting, right? Leave a comment-- share your experiences-- be part of the conversation!

(As usual, all text and images by the author, unless otherwise credited. This is original content, created expressly for this platform.)
Created at 190812 23:15 PDT
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