As kids, we all made up games, drew pictures, told stories. Despite not being aged enough to understand creativity as an concept, we were creative people. As we started to get older, we drifted away from this inherent ability to create into a mindset of responsibility. There are many reasons for this; for me, they all seem to come back to survival. Now we’re adults - we pay our bills, mow our lawns and put food on the table. This while we’re complaining about how we no longer have time to be creative. 

Well, we never lost the time; it’s still there. We just choose to sacrifice our creativity because we believe it’s not worthwhile in regards to our survival. I think that’s where we’ve gone wrong. I believe creativity is as core a part of the human being as eyesight, brain function or heartbeat, but because we’ve yet to develop an eye chart or blood pressure cuff to measure creativity, it’s easily neglected. As adults, we become so focused on our responsibility that we box creativity up in neat little packages with simple labels like “drawing” or “painting” - and we don’t think about it much otherwise. The thing is, creativity isn’t just reserved for fine arts and hobbies; it’s a part of everyday life. Whether you’re solving a problem at your job, communicating ideas online or just laughing with friends, creativity is most likely at the core, whether you realize it or not. 

I don’t sit and think about this every day. I probably don’t think about it every week or every month. But it’s genuinely how I feel, and I feel that way because I believe creativity is not only worthwhile to our survival, but essential. Being creative people, even in our own individual way, is one of the few things we all have in common, and that’s pretty awesome.

That’s why I’m proud to say my friends are the most creative people I know.

That’s why I work to celebrate the creativity I find in the world around me. 

That’s why I strive to be the most creative person I can.