What's Keeping You from Creating? I Have Some Thoughts and Solutions

If you've been around a while, you know I love creativity. I believe, truly believe, that we were created by our Creator to create. Creativity is a deeply-rooted part of our being. It's up to us to discover what or how we like to create and then create.

But sometimes something keeps us from creating. Why and how can we overcome them?

I have some thoughts.

What's Keeping You from Creating?

I often think of the parable of the talents told in the Bible. In the story, a man gives to his servants talents, a type of great monetary value. To one servant the man gives five talents, to another two, and to the last one. He goes away for a while, and when he comes back he finds that the first made his five talents into ten. The second made his two talents into four. But the last buried his treasure because he was afraid of losing it. The man is pleased with the first two servants and very disappointed with the last servant to the point of calling him slothful.

As a child in church, in comparison to this story, we often talked about our talents and gifts from God and how we were developing them. Were we using and growing our talents? Or were we burying them?

It's easy to bury our gifts and talents. It's more comfortable and reassuring because we want to protect something that means so much to us. If we let them out to the world, how will others treat them? What if we lose them? What if we're not good enough? What if others make fun of us? What if we succeed or do well and we're treated differently?

Let's discuss each of these misbeliefs, these things that may be keeping you from creating.

What If We Lose Our Gifts or Talents?

In the last part of the parable, the man takes away the one talent from the last servant and gives it to the servant with ten talents. So he lost it in the end anyway. So it is with our gifts and talents. If we are overprotective of them and do not use them, work at them, grow them, we will lose them.

Think of your talents as a muscle. If you do not exercise your muscles, you start to lose strength. And as you get older, your joints become more stiff and sore to the point you hardly do anything. But if you continue to exercise, your muscles grow stronger and you're able to continue doing many of the things you love.

If you want to keep your gifts and talents, you have to use and grow them.

What If We're Not Good Enough?

I don't know a single person that doesn't worry about not being good enough. I'm sure that was a part of the last servant's concern. What if he tried to go out and make more money but wasn't able to do it?

To be honest, in the beginning, you most likely won't be good enough. There are two sides to ability: talent and skill. Just because you have talent in something, doesn't mean you have skill. That has to be learned through lots of hard work. And I believe that just because you weren't both with prodigy talent doesn't mean you can gain it.

You might not be good at first, but you will be great if you keep working at it.

What If Others Make Fun of Us?

Ugh. The dread.

To be honest, again, it might and most likely will happen. Not because you're not good, but because people can be horrible and mean. Why? Many reasons:

• They are jealous

• They haven't seen and learned from the movie Bambi ("If you can't say something nice, don't say nothing at all.")

• Everyone thinks they have to be a fancy critic

• They don't understand what you're doing, the purpose, the cause, etc.

• They have fallen into the current trap of social media and our world of hate for no reason other than to hate

When someone makes fun of us, it says way more about them that it does about us. Of course, that doesn't mean it doesn't hurt. It hurts A LOT, a lot. But here's what I hope you and I remember when those words come across our social media feed, in our ears, or any other form they may find us:

It's not about them. It's about me. And I love what I'm doing. I love what I'm creating. I am doing what I was created to do. And I am happy.

I can't promise these words will fix it all. And maybe these aren't the right words for you. But I hope you find the right words. Because you need to keep creating. The world needs your creativity.

What If We Succeed or Do Well and We're Treated Differently?

Last night, I had this exact conversation with Scott. I told him that I've realized recently that when I'm dreaming about a different house or things that I want, I find myself limiting my dreams because I worry that others will compare what I have to what they have and feel bad.

And I realize I've done this with other aspects of my life. Many times I will not do as well on purpose because I don't want others to feel bad about where they are at. And this isn't without reason. I haven't just assumed that others will feel bad. It's actually happened. When I did well in school, better than a friend, the friend felt horribly and maybe made fun of me out of jealousy, and I felt bad that she felt bad, so I made myself not seem as well studied. When on my mission, I had a companion who struggled with some of the vocabulary and got upset with me for doing as well, so I didn't study as hard to make her feel better. These are only two examples, but I have found myself in similar situations my entire life. I have been afraid of succeeding or doing well because I worry others will be upset with me for doing well.

Here's the hard truth, though, that even I need to learn: We should never bring ourselves down to make others more comfortable. There are two things that should actually happen instead:

1. We should keep rising so we can lift others up

2. When others succeed and they seem to be doing better than us, we should cheer them on and be happy for their success instead of wallowing in jealousy

I believe that if we put more effort into these two actions, we will be happier and contribute better and more to our communities. We can't accomplish great things if we are always limiting ourselves to make others more comfortable. But if we keep pushing forward, we can inspire others to follow. And if we let our jealousy of other people's successes keep us from having joy for them, we keep ourselves down. We should instead be happy for others and let their work inspire us to grow as well.

My Creative Conclusion

We're meant to create. We're meant to grow our creative talents. What do you enjoy doing? What have you kept yourself from doing out of fear? I challenge you to reclaim your creativity. Don't let others or yourself keep you from doing that thing you love. Go out and create.