So, you don't think you're a creative person?
If even a sliver of you believes you're not creative (enough), read this.
Hey there,
Katina here, Daydreamers’ Co-founder and Chief Science Officer. If you’re new here, welcome to Creative Health - our free, weekly publication where we explore what it really means to live a creatively fulfilling life in an increasingly burned out, lonely and technology-driven world.
Before we go any further, we have to talk about the elephant in the room: Does some part of you, on some level, believe you’re not creative?
I know that if you’re reading this newsletter you have some connection to creativity - whether it’s a core part of your identity or a mysterious concept you’ve always been intimidated by.
Regardless of where you fall on the ‘creative comfort’ scale, we can all agree that the idea of being creative has a confusing reputation in our world today. We’re obsessed it on some level, but often, it feels like something only very few can access. And when we finally do something creative it seems that it’s never good enough, for long enough or seen by enough people.
Am I reading your mind?
After spending years researching the way creativity works in our brain, the societal reasons for the sharp drop off in engagement once we enter adulthood and interviewing thousands of people from all walks of life - I can pretty much guarantee that you feel some level of insecurity about your creativity, no matter who you are.
If you willingly answered yes, even begrudgingly, to that question - you’re not alone by any means. Research even shows that the majority of adults today have a weird relationship with being creative. So much so, that Adobe has found 67% of people in the United States believe they aren’t living up to their creative potential.
Of course, as a Creative Health Scientist, I’m here to tell you that human creativity is like our heartbeat. It’s literally our human superpower, whether you believe you have “it” or not. Think of it this way - even if you’re not paying attention to your creativity, it’s still beating. And while some of us may have a stronger, more exercised version the simple existence of it is what keeps us alive.
I promise: We can never get rid of our creativity - no matter how old we get, how long we stop expressing ourselves or how little time we have to do it. Better yet, the more we use it, the healthier we become.
But, before we get further into the science of Creative Health together I first want to reset your expectations around who “gets” to be creative and why - because living a creatively fulfilling life isn’t just for the lucky few who are rich and talented.
In fact, by unlocking our innate creativity it will help us make the world a better, more enchanted place for everyone. So, let me poke some holes in your creative belief system - and we can start building a more creative world, together.
The Four Creative Myths
I’m sure you have an excuse (or 1,000) why you aren’t as creative as you’d like to be.
(Trust me, I’ve heard them all.)
I know we’ve talked about this a little bit in past newsletters - I had a ton of excuses myself. This might be surprising given my line of work, but I always grew up thinking I wasn’t a “creative” kid. Even though I had a lot of creative hobbies when I was young, I never considered myself a creative person. I liked math and science - and frankly, did horribly in art class. As I grew older, I thought that creativity especially as an adult was only for the talented. Or better yet - only something I could do after I retired with a lot of excess money and time.
Can any of you relate?
After getting my Master’s in Clinical Psychology and starting Daydreamers, I realized that these weren’t just me issues. They were fundamental problems in our society. The majority of adults believe that creativity is only for those with obscene amounts of talent, time, youth and money.
This couldn’t be further from the scientific truth. So, over the past few years at Daydreamers, we’ve come up with a framework that we like to call The Four Myths - the core reasons that the majority of us adults stop using our creative brain.
Since nine in ten of you will resonate with at least one of these myths (if you don’t, share yours in the comments!) we’ll break each of them down in depth with the latest scientific research in future newsletters. But to begin, let’s scratch the surface with a simple mind-expander around each:
Talent
Myth: You need to have raw talent to be creative.
Science: There are 4 “types” of creativity - and only one of them has to do with external success and fame. Big-C Creativity, best-selling books and Nobel Prize winning inventions, is the one most of us know about. In it, your creative output has to be judged by others. But, mini-c creativity is the foundation of all creativity (and what we focus on cultivating at Daydreamers). It’s something we each do every day: making anything that is meaningful to you. It’s biologically wired in the human brain.
Time
Myth: Being creative means you need 3+ hours to paint an entire canvas.
Science: In fact, you only need about 15 minutes to enter the creative flow state. I know it’s hard to believe, but the latest scientific studies show that just a few minutes of mini-c creativity is the biological equivalent of a runner’s high - and it releases a cocktail of neurotransmitters that has a positive impact on your mind, body and creative brain long afterwards (my favorite study out of New Zealand actually demonstrated that mini-c creative acts can positively impact your emotions for up to 48 hours!).
Youth:
Myth: Playful creativity ends in childhood.
Science: We actually get more creative with age. This is because as get older, our creative brain is collecting more life experiences that it can combine in new, unique ways. Essentially, think of your creative brain like a computer - the more exposure to life we have, the more creative we become. Not the other way around.
Money
Myth: Creativity requires having the fanciest equipment.
Science: In fact, it begins completely for free. We activate inspiration by noticing beauty, like a sunset or the way the light hits the floor. We kickstart mental flexibility by daydreaming and being bored. At Daydreamers, we call this essential facet of Creative Health “Noticing” - and the only tool required is your creative brain.
The bottom line is simple: Being creative is way less complicated - and more innate - than we imagine.
Recognizing that these myths are simply stories we tell ourselves, not the scientific truth, is exact reason why we started Daydreamers in the first place. We wanted to everyone - but especially “non-artists” - to have a place where they can create for fun, health and fulfillment without needing to have the talent, a ton of time or the pressure to share it with anyone but yourself.
And, I think you all will appreciate this: much of the Daydreamers ecosystem is dedicated to breaking down the scientific blocks to our creativity that impact all of us - like perfectionism - step by step. We built Daydreamers not only to make Creative Health a habit, but to reengage the skills that are so essential to strengthening our creative brains for good.
The first step to becoming Creatively Healthy is being aware of the myths that holds us back. No matter if you’re ready to dive deeper into exploring your Creative Health right now or not - I want you to start feeling confident that yes, in fact, you are a Creative Person.
Everyone is.
And simply by illuminating this framework of creative misconceptions, we can start to push back against the status quo, together. With us?!
- Katina
Daydreamers’ Co-Founder and Chief Science Officer
Creative Brain Teaser 🧠
Think of this as a peek into what we do at Daydreamers. We’ll share a taste of a Creative Health concept or actionable tool from the Daydreamers Platform that will help you take this week’s newsletter from a learning into a part of your everyday life.
The Daydreamers Creative Spectrum
What it means: We have such a rigid perspective on what ‘counts’ as being creative in our world today. The first question we often get from people is: I want to be creative, but how do I start? So, we developed a simple, scientific framework to expand your perspective around the type of creative acts you can do, no matter how much time or energy you have. Think of it this way - our creativity exists on a spectrum of effort and output; it’s not just writing or drawing. We put it into 3 main categories: Expression, Thinking and Noticing. Everything from watercolor painting to daydreaming has a specific impact on your Creative Health.
How to experiment with it: Start exploring the expansiveness of your creativity - and what resistance you have around it. Do you tend to gravitate more towards expressing yourself in the physical world, connecting your mind and body? Or do you enjoy imagining, strategizing and brainstorming? The more that you begin to see creativity as a diverse, natural way of being; the less intimidated you become.
One thing we’re into 🪐
In the name of simplicity, each week we’ll share something that myself, Katina, or our team @ DD HQ is obsessed with. It can be an idea, a quote, a book or even a product that’s helping us live a little bit more of a creatively fulfilling life.
A Creative Ideas List
This seems simple, but the best forms of creativity are. Our Co-founder, Dupi, never stops thinking creatively (literally). He finds that the best way to ‘cognitively offload’ his creative thoughts and make space for more of them is keeping a long, running list of his ideas. All you need is a notebook, a notes app or even your DD scratchpad to keep track. The act of getting your thoughts out of your head and into the real world is one of the most accessible ways not only to reduce stress, but expand creativity.
Want to share something you’re creatively jamming on? Tell us in the comments!
Help us reach our goal of 20,000 community members here on Substack - we’re so close! Share Creative Health by Daydreamers with a friend or two who need a dose of creative living 🤍 We really appreciate you helping us expand this movement with the world.