One of my goals, this 30 days, is to do two creative projects with my daughter. I was 8 days in and had no idea what we were going to do for one project, let alone complete TWO! This was starting to stress me out (I’m a planner by the way). The exact opposite of what doing a project with my daughter was supposed to do.
… what does it even mean to be creative?
I started to question, what does it even mean to be creative? According to Merriam-Webster, it is to be “marked by the ability or power to create”. Sounds rather daunting, doesn’t it? I’ve also always thought of it as synonymous with artistic.
Now when I look inside the box of “me”, artist certainly is not in there & I’m sure many of you feel the same way. I have always left that label to my youngest sister, her daughter & even mine, but not me. In middle school, I avoided art class like the plague and instead joined band & drafting. Give me sheet music & give me precise measurements! Believe me, you do not want to see my cursive!
… what is a mom to do?
So, what is a mom to do? Like anything I cannot seem to pinpoint, I let it lie at the back of my mind to percolate; I trust that an answer will come as long as I stay open to it. The weekend comes and Spring is in full bloom. Bloom…. Bloom… BLOOM! That’s it! We are going to garden.
How is that creative you might ask? What is a garden, but to create colour & composition in a space that maybe has none? Doesn’t that sound like art? I have the power!
The next day after school, off to our local greenhouse we go where we not only get eaten by mosquitoes, we also choose some beautiful annuals & perennials to fill our front flower bed. Over the next 3 days we planned, we dug, we fertilized and we planted. All the while fostering our connection to each other and to the earth.
Does this make me an artist? No, but it does make me creative, even if some of you see my creativity only as my ability to come up with this project and say it’s creative 😉
Define creative in a new light
So, the next time you feel you are not creative, I challenge you to define creative in a new light. It is not a narrow definition such as I had in my mind. If you look at the actual synonyms and related words of creative they include clever, inspired, productive, & resourceful. I believe we are all creative in our own way, we just don’t recognize it. How were you creative today? Let me know in the comments.
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