Staying creative is crucial to me in order to be balanced and having a fulfilled life (or at least a week). I have found it to be extremely difficult to work in a large corporate firm and still remain creative. During the first 6 months, I took a break from blogging and made sure to maintain some creative activity by going to drawing sessions every Saturday. As I felt that my priority for that moment was to focus on the job, I had made my mind in advance where my priority was. When the 6 months had gone by, I felt that I had more freedom in my mind to resume my creative pleasures. But suddenly I felt that even though I wanted this again, I didn’t know where to begin, what to write or photograph. Very naturally, the cooking came back (obviously) and with some getaways I found some inspiration and started writing again (in paper notebooks).
Now how can I make sure of maintaining the creative work? There are so many features you better learn to smoothly work your way up the corporate ladder which are in contradiction with being creative. How do you keep both and not become fake or - dare I say it? - a bit schizophrenic ^^?
Let me explain. For example, in theory, vulnerability in a firm is - uhuh - not good. You show weakness, you are slowly going to fade out. Of course it is not as harsh as in The Hunger Games, but you get the idea. On the other hand, vulnerability can foster creativity. When you are willing to let yourself be vulnerable, you allow yourself to try out new things, even though they don’t work from the very beginning, you gotta start somewhere. Being vulnerable as in being connected to your feelings enables you to express yourself in whatever artistic way you please. Brené Brown made a very soulful Tedx speech on vulnerability back in 2010: The power of vulnerability. With a lot of humour, she notes that creativity is fostered by vulnerability (even though it is not the fundamental part of her speech).
What can also help staying creative is setting out a « creative workout » like my friend Rodolphe calls it in his piece « Why I built a weekly creativity routine« . He explains how creativity has become a part of his daily week-life just as much as going to the gym for some or having brunch with your gang for others. I completely agree with this idea, if you don’t set dedicated time aside for creativity, there’s a big chance you won’t come up with that many new ideas, especially if your job isn’t within creative surroundings.
Do you also feel that being creative is important to being balanced? How do you maintain your creativity?
Picture taken in Paris, Hotel Costes, Faubourg St Honoré