What is Creativity?

I must say I've never written a blog before, but the idea has never slipped my mind ever since I started writing down peculiar things I come across in life. Why should we not share these strange things with each other? I believe creativity has its origins inside the open mind of the ones who see beyond what is common. And since creativity is the base on which everything in this world is made, I think you realise by now how important these Uncommon Questions can be...

“creative 1670s, "having the quality of creating," from create + -ive. Of literature, "imaginative," from 1816, first attested in Wordsworth. Creative writing is attested from 1907. Related: Creatively.”
Source: "creative." Online Etymology Dictionary. Douglas Harper, Historian. 24 Jan. 2012.

As you can see from the source above, the word “creative” comes from the word “create”. So essentially creativity is there in everything we create. Makes sense right? So you can derive that we are all creative, in our own way. Now isn’t that a wonderful thing to keep in mind?

Creating something is often criticized, whether it is positive or negative. Sometimes you asked for it, sometimes you didn’t. Criticism however, is subject to opinion or rules based on opinions. What is beautiful? What is accepted? What is ugly and what is unacceptable? These are all opinions. It may be the opinion of a large mass, or that of a single individual.
But an opinion is an opinion. It’s one’s personal feeling about something. Personal. That is the word you should keep in mind, next time someone criticizes you. It is your choice to make what you make. It is your choice to have a personal different feeling than the one criticizing you.

All our opinions and feelings matter. You may decide if you do something with it or not. You may decide if you think its worth to change your creation into something the criticizer likes, or if you keep it the way you like. Both are equally important, both are equally worthy.

You see, an opinion about you or your creation has nothing to do with you, it’s about the criticizer. He feels this way. Not you. It’s his opinion, not yours. So you should never feel bad about yourself, because of what someone else thinks or feels.

Everyone in this world likes and hates different things. It’s normal to be different, we are all human. You can’t please everyone.

So don’t ever feel like you don’t have the right to feel, be or create differently.

Love yourself!


S.P. van der Lee