Understanding our Relationship with Creativity (Challenge #12)
As a young creative/professional, traversing this landscape can be difficult. Over this past half decade this journey has been filled with peaks and valleys that has really made me look to understand who I want to be as a creative.
Creativity has become commodified over the past decade. Avenues of opportunity to earn money off of our creativity have blossomed and has given us chances to do what we loved to do as kids, professionally. We see our favorite creators on TikTok, Youtube, and Instagram getting all of these collaborations and creating things we know we are also capable of.
Content. Content. Content.
“What content can I create this week to get more viewers?"
“What trend can I hop on to get more eyes?”
This journey of utilizing my creativity to pave a path forward has been frustrating, uncomfortable, yet freeing. Being able to go down this path has been a privilege that older generations never had.
It’s freeing, yet intimidating. The amount of opportunities are great, but it’s up to you to consistently work, improve, and build relationships in order to achieve your full potential.
For this week’s challenge, let’s focus on our creative journey. Let’s take a step backwards and assess who we are as creatives. For the last 11 Creative Challenges we have focused on creation that implores you to adventure into different realms of creativity; to try new things. Now let’s focus on getting to know yourself a bit further.
Below are going to be a short set of questions that I invite you to answer about yourself.
What is your name?
What are your favorite mediums to create with?
What do you love to do?
What are you really good at doing?
Where are some areas where you can improve?
What do you consider a true weakness of yours?
What can you do to expand your knowledge in those areas?
Do you want to be financially dependent on your creativity?
Is your creativity meant to be a career or a hobby?
My answers:
What is your name?
Troy
What are your favorite mediums to create with?
Video, photo, and type
What do you love to do?
I love to solve problems through my creativity. I love to explore different mediums. I love understanding how things work. I love experiencing new communities and processes through the lens. I love to be curious.
What are you really good at doing?
I’m really good at telling stories. I’m really good at listening.
Where are some areas where you can improve?
I can improve on how I react and understand constructive criticism. I can improve on my steadiness in videography. I can improve my understanding of colors and how to better utilize it as a tool.
What do you consider a true weakness of yours?
Building and maintaining relationships.
What can you do to expand your knowledge in those areas?
Keep pushing myself to meet new people. To not let social anxiety get the best of me. To allow more people to view my work. To keep following up. To focus on improving those aspects of my creativity with every project.
Do you want to be financially dependent on your creativity?
Half and half. I want to get paid to create. But, I don’t want to have to take on projects that don’t align with myself that will drain my creativity. Simplex Minds is what I want to be financially dependent on in the long run. I am putting most of my effort into this platform so then I can be creatively free down the line.
Is your creativity meant to be a career or a hobby?
Right now, it’s meant to be my career. I have the ability to use my creative skills to earn money. In the long run, it will be my hobby.
The questions aren’t too expansive, but I feel like they give you a general idea of where you are currently on your journey. It’s a good starting point to get this conversation going within yourself.
Conclusion
Understanding who you are and your relationship with your creativity is huge in this landscape. Some of us want to do whatever we can to utilize our creativity to take advantage of these career paths available. Some of us just want to create for fun and have a separate career. Some of us have no clue which route to take and are just feeling it out.
No path is wrong. You can be on one path and know down the line you’d like to switch. You can feel like one path is for you and realize later it’s not. No path you take has to be the path you’re confined to. Each path allows yourself to learn more about who you are and what your wants and needs are.
Understanding the path you are taking and being at ease with it will allow yourself to get the most out of it. View the scenery within your path. Take in the sights. See what gravitates towards you. Over time, your path forward will become clearer and then you can start running more confidently.
At the end of the day, we are all still learning.
Much love,
Troy
If you’d like to share your responses, you can submit them here. Submit them as a .pdf or a .doc. Maybe if enough people do it, and are willing, we can send out a follow up with our responses. Maybe.
Next Creative Challenge will be back to creating projects :)
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