How to Unleash Your Inner Creative
I was in second grade when I decided to be a writer when I grew up. Judging by the gummy worms on my desk, my precocious texting skills and the bubblegum pink lip gloss in my purse, you could argue that my adulthood is still pending. But most days I’m a writer, so my inner seven-year-old is giddy.
There are times, though, when I wonder, Did I choose the right profession? Like now. I’m sitting at a coffee house in Half Moon Bay that smells like seaweed and pumpkin lattes, overlooking the Pacific, and struggling with writer’s block. It’s usually foggy or overcast in Half Moon Bay. Today it feels that way in my brain.
Words don’t always flow easily for me, even though that’s what I’m paid for. Sometimes I worry that one day I’ll wake up and my creative mojo will be gone. Then what? I’ll probably start making lattes in Half Moon Bay. And smell like pumpkins and seaweed, which seriously won’t work for me—I have a hard enough time dating as it is.
If you think creative people are just born creative, think again. Everyone has the propensity (and I would argue, the desire) to create, whether they work as a barista, an engineer, a schoolteacher or an artist. But creativity doesn’t just flow, even for the more right-brained among us. It’s something that must be honed.
Want to nurture your inner creative genius (and I know you have one)? Here are three things that may help.
Daydream. I’m talking straight up space-out-and-let-your-mind-wander kind of dreaming. Studies have shown this is not a waste of time; it’s a great way to wake up your brain. Extroverts beware—this requires alone time. I’m an extrovert by nature, but I’ve forced myself to enjoy my own company. Now my creativity peaks between 11:00 p.m. and 3:00 a.m. when my sole companions are my MacBook and a sweet Pinot Noir. What to daydream about? That’s your business. I can tell you that some of my wittiest opening lines on Hinge have come from a great daydreaming session.
Pretend you didn’t hear that. Let’s move to number two.
Get out. I mean literally, get out—of your office, your house, your cubicle. Change your scenery and go somewhere that makes your neurons fire. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been stuck on a word, then changed my location and found my fingers flying across my keyboard. Once I took my laptop to a swanky little joint in San Francisco. I was new to the city and didn’t know it, but this spot was smack dab in the middle of the Tenderloin, one of the city’s most “colorful” neighborhoods. I saw drug dealers, flamboyant drag queens, businessmen chatting with prostitutes —all before 5:00 p.m. Not typically my scene. But I felt a little like Mark Twain that week, all quippy and creative, after a two-week long dry spell. Sometimes a new world will give you all sorts of inspiration.
Play like a kid. When’s the last time you finger-painted? Danced in your underwear? Or taunted a gummy worm like it was a viper before you bit its head off? (Try it before you judge.) Kids are audaciously creative because they haven’t started editing themselves out of fear of judgment. Studies have shown that this begins around age 10, when kids start focusing on rules and their friends’ opinions, a phenomenon known as the “fourth-grade slump.” It’s a shame that we lose our inhibitions as we age because it stifles creativity like nothing else. So I say, take time to play. Go swing at the park. Buy some sidewalk chalk and draw Hopscotch. Build something with Legos. Rediscover the child in you.
Whatever you do, don’t sit around waiting for creativity to strike as if it’s some elusive lightning bolt that only hits a select few. You have wonderfully creative ideas already stirring inside. You just need to find a way to unearth them. And seriously, role play with a gummy worm. You’ll always win.
