I looked up the definition for the word creative this morning.

I do this every few months because I hope it will have changed, kind of like when I repeatedly look in the refrigerator for a snack, even though the contents haven’t changed in the 30 minutes since I last opened the door.

Today was the same: the Oxford dictionary’s definition is

creative, adj. The use of skill and the imagination to produce something new or a work of art. It goes on to give additional definitions about creative financing and creative accounting, both of which sound vaguely illegal and more than a little bit negative.

Creative, as a noun is just as vague and yet narrow.

The Cambridge dictionary:

creative, n. Someone who is producing or using original and unusual ideas.

Then, there is the highly specific Merriam-Webster’s version as “one who is creative, especially : one involved in the creation of advertisements.”

These definitions are not wrong per se, but practically speaking, they are a way to describe a proverbial container with which to put certain types of creativity inside, and leave tons of types of creativity outside.

As someone who grew up drawing horses, I never thought I was creative because I never wanted to be an Artist. I believed this despite the fact that I spent hours, and eventually years drawing.

The words artist and creative were synonymous in my mind, in large part because they were synonymous in the culture I was raised in. And looking at these definitions reminds me that the culture hasn’t really changed all that much.

And this is so important because I deeply, DEEPLY believe that

EVERYONE is creative.

Every single person acts creatively.

Every day. And yes, I mean even the people who don’t think they're creative, who don’t think they have an “artistic bone in their body” or they “can’t even draw a straight line”.

And I don’t blame you, why would you think you're creative, if every dictionary, not to mention our culture, keeps telling you that unless you can paint pleasing pictures, or sing on key, or play the piano, or have a job in advertising.

AND then, on top of all that, you must also get recognized for your “creative ability”, or you’re not creative.

There's creativity in those things to be sure, but at the level one needs to be at to be recognized as “creative”, there’s also a lot of skill and discipline, not to mention years of practice.

One of the definitions does say creative “is relating to or involving the imagination or original ideas” (it goes on to say, especially in the creation of an artwork), but at least it starts out less specific.

Perhaps the best definition is from the Collins Dictionary, which says “If you use something in a creative way, you use it in a new way that produces interesting and unusual results.” FOR YOU.

Here’s the point, creativity doesn’t just happen at the macro level, at the “I am a Creative” level.

It happens at the micro level, every day. And in a lot of moments within the day once you start to look for them.

Creativity is action.

It’s taking a thought and rendering it in the real world.

It’s Creative because it’s new.

New to you, in that day, at that moment.

What the definitions don’t say, but what I’m here to say, as someone who is by every dictionary’s definition of “creative” is that

Being creative is about the choices you make for yourself…

from the new way you plate your breakfast, to that new picture you choose to put on your wall, to the new route you take to go to work…and of course, ANY form of art you create.

creativity SOUL SOIL — And here’s the gold embedded
in the fact that you are creative…

There is power in being creative.

Embracing your creative nature, that part of you that came into the world when all the other parts of you did, is the portal to a deep well of agency over how you experience your life.

Cultivating your creative nature will spread sparkles throughout your day, unearth your capacity for joy, and eventually, revamp how you see the world.

Does it sound too good to be true?

I’m living proof that it can happen.

I was a professional artist for years before I started calling myself an artist. And while I loved my job, a job where I got to paint beautiful pictures for people, I was a giant stress ball in every other area of my life.

The stress eventually outweighed whatever creativity I experienced in my job.

To deal with that stress, one of the things I learned to do was to notice all the different ways I was creative, from the flowers I chose to plant on my front porch, to the way I plated my breakfast, to various shades of beige I chose for my bedroom linens.

No one told me to make these choices,and they weren’t for anyone but me, for the newly acknowledged pleasure of being creative.

I began to feel into the joy and daily sense of contentment that followed.

This is what it means to be creative, not whether or not you can draw a straight line.

Do you want to feel more creative?

Try This:

Start noticing your choices.

The small daily choices you make throughout the day. Like getting dressed for example. Take a moment to acknowledge all the options you have to choose from. Take a moment to ask why you chose that particular shirt over all the others..was it your mood, to impress others, to be invisible, to feel happy?

It might seem small, but acknowledging, understanding and appreciating the power you have to make these choices is a great way to begin to exercise your creative muscle.

What It Really Means to be Creative