Thoughts On Creativity

Hello from Dortmund!

As you know, the boyfriend and I had an awesome vacation in Canada about two months ago (pictures can be found here, here and here). Two days before we left we wandered along W 4th Ave and found Banyen Bookshop. There was a lot of esoteric stuff I am not fond of but they also had a few nice books on creativity and such. I got myself a book and as you can see I started to read it the same night at the beach. The book is called "Living Artfully" and was written by Sandra Magsamen. It's a good read and the author has some very lovely ideas.

Next to being a good and inspiring read, the book got me thinking about creativity in general as well as my journey to become more creative.

The word creativity or Kreativtät goes back to the Latin verb "creare". "Creare" translates into "to make something" or "to invent something". In some contents it also means "to choose". All of these translations relate to my understanding of creativity quite well.

Some day ago I talked to Michelle about creativity and she assumed she wasn't very creative because she mostly follows patterns instead of making up her own patterns. I disagree with her sentiments. According to my understanding of creativity, Michelle is very creative indeed because she makes new creations with her hands. That is, she creates something and even if she does indeed follow a pattern, the process of creation is a still an act of creativity.

Until recently I never considered myself a very creative person. Even worse: I told myself I wasn't creative at all! I liked to make things but hardly dared to actually tackle new skills (telling me I will be bad at it anyway) or didn't like the results (they weren't perfect!). As you know I really got into crochet when I lived in Australia 2008/2009. When I returned to Germany, I still made a lot of Granny Squares but that was it.

About two years that changed. I wish I could pinpoint one special event but I really can't remember. I wanted to make something different to Granny Squares and I think I started with an amigurumi teddy bear. I tried to follow the pattern and the result looked close to a teddy. It still sits on the bookshelf even though I have made some far prettier stuff since then. This teddy reminds me that I can tackle new skills even if the (first) result isn't perfect. You might think, that it is pretty normal that first tries don't work out perfectly but for me accepting this has been a HUGE step.

Since then my creativity tries to go into overload... Of course Facebook and Pinterest don't help with that. There is so much to try and so much to do! I find myself wandering out of my comfort zone these days: Even though crochet is still my first (and strongest) craft love, I like to work with paper these days. The last couple of days I spent making Lucky Stars and I really enjoy the calm I reach when I fold them.

Altogether I have found peace in doing crafts. It helps me to focus and to relax. And since I noticed that about myself, I made sure to embrace creativity. Of course I am not perfect, of course I don't manage everything and of course I don't have the time to try everything. But that's okay. I am happy.

So nowadays I proudly call myself a creative person! 
What about you?