Unleash Your Creativity YOUR WAY
There are many kinds of creatives. And each one follows a plan to unleash their creativity and express it to the world— a structure, a grid — whatever you want to call it. If your friend is a successful “creativity-unleasher”, know that she/he follows a plan, even if she/he doesn’t know it.
And if you’ve clicked on this post, you want to be a creativity-unleasher too. And you’ve come to the right place, so let’s dive in!
The first thing you want to do is BE YOURSELF.
This may seem easy and completely unnecessary to include in this post, but the truth is that 85% of people are scared to be themselves. Whoa, large number, right??
I first realized this when I asked one of my classmates who she wanted to be like.
ME: Hey, girl! I have a question for you: who do you want to be like?
MY FRIEND: Hi Ahana! Umm… I kinda wanna be like, Ariana Grande?
ME: Ok, but why would you want to be like her?
MY FRIEND: Because she’s a star and she’s rich and famous? I dunno.
ME: Oh-kayyyy… alright…
MY FRIEND: What, isn’t that right? Like, everyone wants to have millions of dollars sitting in their account, don’t they?
ME: Yeah, you’re — um, right. Kind of. Anyways, I got maths class. GTG!
As you may be able to guess by imagining my voice, I was a bit shocked. And feeling helpless, at the same time. As a middle-schooler, nobody except maybe preschoolers want your advice. Not even your friends. So I decided not to dump her with loads of information, and instead went my way.
To the maths class, which was a total nightmare. But that’s for another post.
As I was walking back home, the realization finally sunk in. People, especially aspiring middle-schoolers, wanted to be like their idols. They wanted to copy their daily habits, switch their favorites from green tea to Earl Grey just ’cause their idol drinks it, and take up singing just because their idol is Ariana Grande.
My classmate, that day, had unknowingly made a mistake to herself. She was denying who she already was. Who she could be if she wanted to.
So, dear readers, never shy away from who YOU ARE. Your flaws and all the good stuff you have. If people say you’re a great dancer and you yourself somewhere feel that you love dancing, don’t try to be someone else. Don’t try to be Bilie Eilish or Ava Max.
Follow them. Of course you can, because hey! — you need someone other than your family members and friends to look up to! You need someone to make you feel inspired, to carry hope into your room on the stormiest nights.
But leave it to only that. Find yourself, which will be, I guarantee you, the №.1 step to finding your creativity and unleashing it. Find your strengths, your weaknesses. Your fatal flaws and the stuff that somehow set you apart from everybody. Only then will you be halfway on your journey to being a creativity-unleasher.
Once you’ve done so, congratulations! You’re already 30% of a creativity-unleasher. Now, let’s move on to the next step:
Experiment with the real YOU that you find.
As you already know from the section above, the real YOU is the YOU you discover, after ditching your false beliefs. And experimenting is one of the most important steps in unleashing your creativity.
So, first of all, how do you experiment? Is this going to be like a scientist or a chemist, creating solutions and creating COVID vaccines?
NO.
Experimenting, over here, means to explore new horizons that you’ve never explored before. Or maybe you have, but you haven’t exactly dug deep into that horizon.
Once you’ve found your main strength, you definitely SHOULD go on to discover your secondary strengths.
That’ll also serve you well in your career life, mark my words.
For instance, ’til 2020, I believed that my only strength was writing. And drawing, to some extent.
Well, that misbelief got wiped out pretty quick after my mother assigned me a fabulous guitar teacher.
I got indulged in music, and for the first time in my short life of ten years, I found a new horizon to explore. Soon, I was playing arpeggios, licks, Rockschool exercises and had climbed all the way up to Rockschool Grade 3.
That was my secondary strength.
I discovered that I was creative in not only writing, but also in playing the acoustic guitar! Now, I had something to look forward to even if my writing days went bad!
And now that I think of it, I understand something that I’m trying to teach you through this blog post. I had officially unleashed my creativity.
Before this section ends, I’m giving you a little exercise to help you experiment with new horizons:
Questions to Ask Yourself:
1. What do I love to do? Why does it matter to me?
2. If I love doing this, what are some things connected to this that I might be able to explore? E.g. If you love singing, you might try to explore the world of instruments.
3. What have people told me I’m good at? (Note: You can get personal over here and ask your family members and close friends about their opinions. By people I mean people who care about YOU and people you care about.)
You can note down these questions and answer them later, when you’re free. For now, you can move on to the penultimate step:
Engage with a community of people all around the world — but only a few people, mind you.
Know one thing: different people will have different opinions. Some may not be agreeable, some may be basically right from their point of view, and some may be applicable for EVERY citizen of Earth.
Which is why you need the opinions of very few people who are similar to you, but most importantly, who have different perspectives.
It may sound confusing at first, and I can’t explain how to untangle this sentence’s meaning. YOU can answer it YOURSELF, because only YOU know what you are, and who you think are similar to you.
And the reason why I say only a few people is because as the saying goes: Too many cooks spoil the broth.
In this case, YOU are the broth waiting for encouragement and approval. And the cooks are the ones trying to encourage you. Too many opinions can be discouraging and can also be overwhelming; often frustrating you.
I, as an aspiring author, have a tiny Launch Team consisting of only two people. It’s tiny, yes, but it’s tremendously encouraging, too. Sometimes even I reflect upon how amazing my Launch Team, or rather Mega Support Team can be, even with less than ten people.
So take the saying seriously. Having people supporting you in every step, standing up for you when you’re mistaken, is extremely emotionally satisfying.
If you trust them and their opinions, you’re going to be ready to unleash your creativity — but where are you going to express it? Move on to the last step to know more.
Pick a platform where you can show your creativity to the world.
What is a platform for us creatives? A place where we can express ourselves and reach out to the whole world. Literally.
If you’re a writer, you can choose Medium or Wordpress. If you’re a singer, you can choose Tiktok or Twitch. If you’re a dancer, you can use Tiktok or YouTube. You can choose your own platform. Whatever you like. Whatever you think you can express yourself on.
In the end, what matters is that you unleashed your hidden creativity, and millions of people watched you do it. And thousands, if not all, have become your fans.
More support. But no opinions from them, once again!
That’s it for today’s blog post, I hope you enjoyed it! Follow my profile to get access to more such creative content — and if you want something new, don’t worry, don’t wait! Just Email me at ahanachakra21@gmail.com for suggestions and feedback. I love exploring new horizons!
