I hate to break this to you, but you’ve been robbed. Something very important was stolen from you. You were born with it. It still rightly belonged to you. Yet, there is no sense of injustice and outrage. What was stolen?
Before I explain, let me ask another–seemingly unrelated–question, do you consider yourself an artist?
That’s the question Gordon Mackenzie would ask. He was an artist at Hallmark Cards. In his book, Orbiting the Giant Hairball, he tells a story of visiting area grade schools. He would visit each grade and ask who in the room were artists. The kindergarteners all raised their hands. Not just one hand, but both hands in the air “Ooh, ooh, I’m an artist!” All the first graders were artists as well, but just the one-hand-in-the-air variety.
By the time Gordon talked to the sixth graders, only one or two would raise their hands. Their eyes darting back and forth because they were outing themselves as artists.
If you’ve read some of my other articles, you may have noticed I’ve shared this story before, but here is part of his story I haven’t written about…
Mackenzie would jokingly ask the sixth graders, “What’s going on here? Did all the artists transfer to art school?” After the kids laughed, he would follow up. “Uh-uh. I don’t think that’s it. I’m afraid there’s something much more sinister than that at work here. I think what’s happening is that you are being tricked out of one of the greatest gifts every one of us receives at birth. That is the gift of being an artist, a creative genius.”
This is what was stolen from so many of us. Maybe from you. How did this happen?
Somewhere along the way, someone may have said you weren’t talented, creative or good enough to be an artist. Or perhaps you started comparing yourself to others and decided you didn’t have the knack to be artistic. Another possibility is you eventually believed creativity was childish and you needed to grow up.
How do you reclaim your stolen creative identity? Like most con jobs, this one is built on lies. So, recovering your identity starts with recognizing the lies used against you.
Lie #1: You aren’t talented, creative or good enough to be an artist.
Maybe you’ll never have a gallery exhibit of your artwork. Publishers may not ever print your book and send it out to the world. But what is an artist? Someone who creates art. And you have the talent to create some form of art.
This brings me to the second lie.
Lie #2: You’re not as talented as others.
You may say, “Sure, I can create ‘some form of art,’ but I’m not as talented as that guy over there.” That guy over there has probably been creating his art for a while. Don’t compare your messy beginning to someone else’s middle. When you get started, it’s best to suspend judgment and simply enjoy the process of creating art. Your early art won’t be world class, but by making art routinely your skills will increase over time. You may never create a masterpiece, but creativity is still valuable, even later in life.
Which leads to the last lie.
Lie #3: Creativity is childish and you need to grow up.
Was Walt Disney childish? Steve Jobs? How about Winston Churchill? The man who helped save Britain and Europe from the tyranny of Hitler. He created over 550 paintings. Churchill was hardly childish, yet he saw the value of his own creativity. Maybe we presume creativity is childish because our childhood was the only time we allowed ourselves to believe we were artists.