Creativity

Creative adjective 1 of or involving the skillful and imaginative use of something to produce e.g. a work of art (her creative use of colour). 2 able to create things. usu. in an imaginative way. 3 inventive.

I've been contemplating this one for a while now and I think I misunderstood the definition. The English language is full of subtleties I'll never understand.

For years, I fully believed that being creative meant that you walked into a problem (visual, literary, scientific, whatever) with the full intent of coming up with a completely original solution. I can't tell you what a burden that idea was to carry around: the idea that in order to create something worthy of being creative it had to be a jaw-dropping-awe-inspiring-bring-out-the-fireworks-let's-celebrate sort of thing.

Then one day I was liberated by the idea that to be creative is to create things. Period. The part about it being in an imaginative way is almost by accident. A problem isn't solved in a creative way with the expectation of being completely original. A problem is solved by attacking it with a variety of resources, be those views, stories, experiences, baggage, aesthetics or whatever. And it's the combination of these resources, completely unique to each person, that makes for a creative solution. By putting as much of yourself as you can into solving a problem, you are creating an original solution. You almost can't help it.

And now when I read the definition, the words are the same but the meaning is entirely different. Being creative no longer seems elusive and infrequent. It's inspiring, obtainable and limitless. And it's for everyone.