Aw, screw it. You know, I had something for this. I had a post written in my head, but somehow it just doesn’t seem to matter much at the moment. Maybe I should just stop here and send this draft to the trash. That’s how a lot of ideas in my life die an untimely death. Creativity withers away before it can blossom like a flower bud met by a late-season frost. I’m too afraid to breathe a little life into the idea and let it take shape before I judge it. Instead, I allow the imaginary critic in my mind convince me up one cranial wall and down the other of why it’s a terrible idea and why it should never see the light of day. And the idea doesn’t.

Creativity’s slow death

The sad thing about creativity is it doesn’t die immediately, but is choked out over time like a plant by weeds. It isn’t the first idea that I let go too easily, but the simplicity with which I then dismiss the second, and it only gets easier from there.

Created for creating

You’re not the “creative” type; I’m still talking to you. Creativity comes back to how we were all fashioned by our Creator. It takes on as many different types as there will ever be people on this planet. Program management, engineering, accounting, and graphic design are all distinct and equal forms of creativity. And there are so many more, but I think you now can agree with me there is a definite tie with purpose forming here.

Creativity ain’t one size fits all

Growing up, I always thought I needed to become an artist to be creative. I became a decent cartoonist by the third grade, and then I realized that I was not a very good drawer. Now, I’m not terrible, but I’m no Bill Watterson (creator of “Calvin and Hobbes”).

Boxing in creativity

There was no way I was ever going to make it as a cartoonist, nor did I really want to. I just thought that was the only way I was ever going to create in my life. It wasn’t until maybe a few years ago I really began to embrace a more comprehensive view of creativity.

Creativity is bigger

This realization changed my life in no small way. I didn’t have to become a poet, a painter, or a sculptor. No, I could be studying Computer Science and still be exercising my creative muscle. Writing code, solving equations was (and is) still creating.

To create: an imperative

Hey, you! What are you creating? Nothing? No, seriously. Do it; create something. Anything. Today. Now.

What are you waiting for?