Three Easy Steps To Start Your Creative Process

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Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view. The creative process is in our genes - handed down to us by our ancestors who created out of necessity.  With their bare hands and rudimentary tools structures were formed, food was grown, garments were made and entertainment was discovered. We reached a point where we no longer have the need to create. Our homes are filled with gadgets that do our work for us.  Every day new items are on the store shelf and we snatch up the latest and greatest.  Someone else makes our clothes and builds our homes. However that innate desire is still lurking about.   We don’t recognize it as the desire to create, we just know there’s a nagging feeling deep inside us.  So we try to remedy that feeling of “something’s not quite right,” with treatments outside ourselves.  We watch hours and hour of mindless television, surf the internet, we eat and drink too much and we take too many anti-depressants.  In other words, we self-medicate. There is the creative spirit in all of us and we need to create just for the sake of creating.  Too often, individuals will not pursue creative outlets because they think it has to have a specific purpose.  If you can’t make money at it why do it? If I cannot write the next great novel, why bother?  Or they “just don’t have time.”  It’s selfish to take an hour or two away from the family to lock yourself away and just create. Those are mindsets that are not going to change quickly and beyond the scope of this article to address in-depth.  However, let’s look at three easy ways to get started on your creative journey.

1. Find your space. Start by finding a space where you can be alone. Maybe on a park bench during your lunch break.
2. Block out time.  Now that you have found a space, set a time to start and a time to end, whether it will be ten minutes or an hour. Keep that deadline as this will be your oasis from daily life.  If you are always busy no creative ideas will manifest.

It is important to have this time and space. If interrupted it is hard to continue on the other side.  Also, if you are always busy creative ideas will not manifest themselves.  3.   What comes to you?  Jot down ideas on a pad.  Maybe you just draw or write a few lines of poetry.  My desire to pursue other creative outlets were always borne from a previous creative endeavor.  I would take a photo and think, “Hmmm that would make a great painting.”  I would take a written blog and turn it into a video blog.  I have tried my hand at many creative pursuits – painting, photography, writing, cooking, gardening, video making – and while better at some pursuits than others, I had fun doing and learning and creating. If you find a creative passion you enjoy and are very good at, then perhaps it can become a money making endeavor for you, that’s great.  However, finding your creativity should never be pursued just for money. Let’s just look briefly at a few of the other benefits that come with being creative:

1. You will become more expressive with your words, your thoughts and how you interact with others.
2. You will see courage kicking fear to the curbside!
3. Creating something is fun and that will relax your brain, letting new ideas enter.
4. Solutions will begin to appear for the challenging questions.

Relax, have fun and let your creativity come to you. Shelly Drymon began her creative pursuits after sixteen years of non-profit work.  She now provides others with the tools to begin their own creative journey.   Shelly is also the co-owner of Training By Design, where she provides non-profits with staff/volunteer development and training and grant writing and management services.

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