How to be creative...
Most women I come across say "I'm not creative". As if being creative is a gift you're born with. It's not. It is a learned skill.
Most women believe this about themselves because they don't understand that creativity is all about a process. It starts with some sort of inspiration, and when you give that idea the freedom to develop, to grow, to adopt some of your personality, then you end up with a creative work of art. Creativity is about having the confidence in yourself to trust that process.
My answer to anyone who says this, is "whatever you're making doesn't need to look perfect... it simply needs to look like you made it". Creativity is letting a part of you become part of the thing you're working on. It is choosing a color to paint the living room wall, not because a magazine says it will look right, but because you love that color. It is changing a recipe because you love a certain ingredient more than the others. It is adding your personality to everything you do.
What do I do when starting a project to get the creative juices flowing? I simply start... Put to paper what my idea is. Even if all of the details aren't there yet - I put the idea down and then the fun starts. I search Pinterest, Google, anything online for inspiration. I look for anything made similar to what I'm thinking of. I normally see a bunch of different ideas, and slowly they all mash together into something I can actually do. My skill set then comes into play - if I can't do it then I enlist the help of someone who can. But what will make my project unique, is exactly that - the fact that my skills are different to yours - my project becomes a combination of ideas, do-able tasks and the determination not to give up until it is done. A good 40% of the time the way I think it will turn out is not how it actually turns out. But instead of giving up when something doesn't work, I improvise. This determination is all that separates a "creative" person from the so called "not-creative" one.
Next time you feel like making something and the thought that you are not creative enough crosses your mind. Stop - remember that it doesn't need to look perfect - it simply needs to look as though you made it.
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