My ‘why’ as an artist

I was considering this recently after someone asked me why I am an artist. At the time I responded enthusiastically with ‘because I enjoy it!’. But as soon as I had said it, I knew that there was much more to it than that. 

Creativity for me feels like a driving life force that runs through pretty much everything I do. I have an inherent impulse to create things, whether that is making a painting, playing the piano, cooking a meal or even writing this blog post.

It makes me feel alive, it quietens and focuses my busy mind, and it pushes me towards growth through lessons in problem-solving, discernment and personal acceptance. 

It really is just part of my BEing. I did not choose to become an artist, I am an artist because it is what I am; it is ingrained in who I am. My world is a place where anything I see has the potential to be a new idea or possibility. I spend my days taking mental snapshots of places I go, things I see, and experiences I have. My mind is a clutter of creative ideas I want to explore and projects I want to undertake. And this creativity is the part of my life that makes me feel most alive. 

We all have innate creativity inside of us, a unique inquisitiveness to play, experiment and learn about the things that really light us up and feed our souls, and the benefits of exploring our creative interests have long been discussed. As Osho says; 

“To be creative means to be in love with life.
You can be creative only if you love life enough that you want to enhance its beauty, you want to bring a little more music to it, a little more poetry to it, a little more dance to it.”

I know personally the positive impact my own creativity has on my life and how integral it is to my mental well-being.

So while on the surface of it I was right to say that I enjoy it, the truth is I nurture my creativity because it means so much to me - IT IS ME. And if my creativity happens to bring someone else some joy along the way, then that is really just the icing on the cake.