You are an artist. Say that out loud to yourself. I want to feel you say it, whenever and wherever you are. You are an artist. As children, we are told to thrive in our creativity; however, as we grow older, expression is tucked away to make room for staying inside expectations. We are told that most people fail when they step outside the lines. We are told to conform. You were born to be an artist because an artist is simply someone who gives into their unique creative super-powers. For those of you who find the idea that you are an artist either crazy or terrifying, I have an exercise for you to try. Even if you are saying to yourself, “heck yeah, I’m an artist,” try this as an opportunity to flex your right-brain muscles.
Either on your electronic device of choice or with good-ol’ fashion pen and paper, take five minutes and write a free-verse (no rules) poem. Sounds easy enough – but there is a catch. No erasing. Write everything that comes to mind. Do not pause, do not think. Just write. I challenge you to set the timer, put it aside to where you cannot see the countdown, and stop writing the moment it goes off. Even if it feels unfished. This can be really hard the first time you practice this exercise. Your mind will likely be fighting you ever step of the way to pause and make it perfect. You will want to cross out words and exchange them for ones you deem better. The point isn’t to test how creative you are or to prove my point that you are an artist. I want you to go way outside of your comfort zone. I want you to feel the constraint you put on your own creative freedom. Do this exercise now, and then after you are done continue onto the next paragraph.
Take note of how you feel mentally after writing a poem for the last five minutes. The first time I tried a writing exercise similar to this, I felt drained and uncomfortable. I hated what I wrote because I felt like it was not good enough. Some of you will feel cleansed after this, like you were finally able to let loose. Now, out loud if you are able, tell yourself, “no one is going to read this but me.” We too often strive for unattainable perfection, even when the only judge is ourselves. Let that really sink in for a moment. If you did this exercise on a digital device, delete it. If you did it on paper, rip it up or scribble it out so it’s no longer legible. Now, how does your body feel?
You just made art for art’s sake. This may have been really tough for you. It might have felt like the channel that connected your mind to your body was clogged and no words would come out. This is natural. Writing whatever comes to your head, not being able to perfect it, and limiting your time to work on a project is probably really frustrating. It goes against so much of what you have been taught. But, you should be really freaking proud of yourself. This crazy act of self-expression takes time to re-learn. I invite you to keep on trying out this exercise. By creating art for art’s sake, you are taking all of the emotional garbage that comes from societal conditioning and throwing it out the window. You are bringing yourself into flow. Thank you, thank you, thank you for trying out this creative free-write. I would absolutely love to receive an email from you on how this practice felt for you and what came up in your art.
Love,
Cazmera