A Call to Re-wild Your Creativity
If you love your life exactly as it is, do not pick up a pen to write. Do not.
Also, stop reading. Stop reading anything, but especially this article right here.
Reading and writing will doom you to a life of discovery, a string of illuminated beads of perfect moments, and a destiny with other creatives whose influence will catapult your life into strange new directions.
Still here? Excellent! I knew you were my people.
For better or worse (and usually both, at least temporarily), writing will change your relationship with yourself and with the world. Why? Because creativity is magic, and anyone who has ever created anything, be it a company or a short story, knows this on some level. And the best part is everyone has access to the beach of creativity. It’s a public beach! And the waves are beckoning.
Did you know that art is not only fun but good for us too? It’s true! Research shows that creating art (even just experiencing it) transforms our biology by rewiring our brains and triggering all sorts of fun endorphins and neurochemicals.
A growing body of evidence shows that art can improve not only your mental health but also your physical health and even your longevity. The power of art provides benefits that rank alongside exercise, a balanced diet, and good sleep. If you think art is a luxury, think again.
So next time you put pen to paper with a snoozing kitty on your lap, go ahead and gaze upon that sweaty jogger out there with pity. You’re both doing amazing things for your health; the difference is you’ll have a poem in the end, and all they’ll have is a runner's high and more laundry to do.
Poems Are Powerful
The strength of a good poem lies in its capacity to bypass our logical minds and hit our heart-home right in the nuts. Poetry is your straightest path forward if you want to super-charge personal growth. Poems have a unique ability to evoke deep-rooted feelings and ideas using figurative language and creative imagery.
Reading, writing, absorbing, or parsing for the perfect word mesmerizes my mind long enough for my whole being to be engaged. Researchers call this the flow state, and people who get into a creative (or athletic) flow live longer.
Take a moment to think about what it takes to create something. You need to be totally focused. You need to slow down, still your thoughts, and yet be open, surrendered to the wild bits of yourself that won’t be labeled. There is great freedom in this. Full stop. And if that was it, it would be enough. But there is also beauty, and danger, giving rise to all sorts of inner journeys and discoveries. You might as well ask, how can I afford NOT to explore poetry in this one wild and precious life of mine?
Writing is a Sacred Calling
In ancient Mesopotamia, writing was considered magic. Whether you believe in magic or not (hey, muggles are welcome here, too), there is something sacred about creating. Whether you believe you are channeling the divine or your own innermost self, writing poetry, prayers, or other forms of creative expression can only deepen your experience of this life.
Diane Ackerman once said, “I don't want to get to the end of my life and find that I have just lived the length of it. I want to have lived the width of it as well.”
Alright, you might say, your fancy words and science-y facts have swayed me. How do I start? What are the concrete, practical, in-the-world steps I need to take to start this journey?
Re-wild Yo’ Self
You’ve tried working 60-hour weeks and zoning out to Netflix. You’ve tried bottles of wine and local adventures. Something is missing, that elusive something that makes life worth living.
The thing that is missing is you. If you’re not “indulging” in your wild, creative side, half of your being is missing.
And it isn’t your fault. We are immersed in a culture that rewards us for burning out. For not showing up for ourselves in healthy ways. We feel judged by society when we carve out time to paint badly, to scribble poems that no one will see. We feel guilty for pursuing art for the joy of it, especially if we aren’t deriving monetary compensation from it. We’re taught that working hard will get us ahead and doing extra will get us that promotion. Anyone caught doing less (or, god forbid, not life-hacking our days to the most efficient second) must be lazy, right?
Research proves once again that not to be the case. In Celeste Headlee’s book Do Nothing, she exposes the global cult of productivity, and outlines how we can sacrifice the gods of efficiency so that we can worship our own instincts for play. So we can grow. So we can be fully human.
Let’s use seasonal changes as an impetus for our own growth. With spring and summer comes the invitation to blossom, to reach out to new ideas and habits. Now is the time to open to the sun, reconnect, and re-wild yourself no matter how many part-time jobs you must take to put food on the table.
Step One: Paper and Pen
Follow me down the rabbit hole as I reject modern technology for a minute. (Hypocritically, as I am currently typing this on my MacBook Pro.) But when I write poetry, it’s always with pen and paper.
Studies have proven that it is better for your mood when you write by hand and that writing long hand engages more of your brain. Use it or lose it, as they say. If you don’t believe me, read this New York Times article with Kelly Lambert, a professor of behavioral neuroscience at the University of Richmond in Virginia.
Tl;dr: Dr. Lambert found that activities like writing, knitting, and even gardening can improve your cognition and your mood. Scrolling and typing? Not so much.
Step Two: Face the Blank Page
If you’ve ever tried meditating and were surprised to feel resistance, even panic, writing can trigger a similar response from our nervous system. Do not be alarmed if you suddenly have the urge to finally pick up those toys in the baby’s room or clean that window you’re staring out of. This is normal.
When faced with no stimulation, your brain may try to hijack you into doing something, anything, other than the inner work needed to put words to paper.
Lay off the judgment, clean the window, then come back to it. You got this.
Step Three: Repeat
You’ve cleaned the window (or the toilets, depending on the severity of your trigger response…), and you’re ready to begin. There’s no secret here. Just begin.
If it helps, remind yourself no one at all has to read this, ever. I’ll be honest with you, it’s probably going to suck. Keep at it; one day, you will lean back in your chair, and your breath will catch in your throat because you didn’t even remember that small red wagon or that you named your first stuffy Reginald.
You’ll feel good. More complete. And isn’t that enough? Isn’t that amazing?
Now don’t go all “production-value” and start judging your work by commercial standards. “Will this sell?” needs to be a question that, at the least, waits until you are settled in your creative routines and maybe even put off indefinitely. Because even if you never see your name in lights, you’ve lived a creative life, and that is amazing. You are amazing.
The bottom line is that creating can be hard. It’s true. But not creating is hard, too.
Pick your hard.
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This article was published on July 30, 2024. Written by:
