Permission Slips for the Hesitant Creator

I have plenty of excuses for not pursuing my creative endeavors. Do you? Here are some of the more common creativity ailments and their cures.

But I don’t have the right supplies.

You don’t need them. Grab whatever is around you. Pen. Paper. Scissors. Junk mail. A box of crackers. Toilet paper rolls. Anything will do. What can you create with the items around you? Can you place the items in a pattern? Can you use your coffee cup as a compass to draw circles on your newspaper? The point is to create something, not to put this off until you have the “right” supplies. Permission Granted to create with what you have on hand right now!

But I’m not an artist.

According to who? At this moment create something for yourself. Not for them. Notice how you feel upon completion of your creation. Curious? Discouraged? Delighted? Annoyed? There is no wrong answer. If someone can paint an orange stripe across a white canvas and call it art, then your doodles, or beautifully folded laundry can also qualify as “art”. Permission granted to be your own kind of artist.

But my art is no good.

Your creation doesn’t need to be “good”. What does that even mean? What is good is so subjective it’s not worth trying to figure out. There may be certain forms of art that you don’t feel proficient in. That’s okay. There endless ways to express yourself. Maybe instead of designing something to be “good”, how about just doing it because it’s fun/new/interesting/different than what you typically do. Permission granted to create for the sake of creating, not to berate yourself if it’s not a masterpiece.

But I don’t have time.

Oh honey, I know! I don’t either. Some weeks life is overflowing with domestic chores or work obligations. Sometimes you may be ill or traveling. When life is blowing up try taking a longer view. Maybe you don’t have time right now, but next week you will. Give yourself grace when life gets too hectic and promise to come back to your art as soon as you can. Over the course of a year, you’ll probably knock out a few projects. Be proud that you accomplished something in the midst of life’s craziness. Permission granted to take a break and come back to it when you can.