It’s easy to take your natural creativity and skills for granted. As something that flows for you, there’s little risk and limited effort required to keep it going, and even less of a reason to put extra energy into it.
However, when natural aptitudes keep you in a plateau, operating at a status quo level, you are also protecting yourself from risk or judgment.
This is the spot where most people stay, kind of owning their creativity but not really willing to work on expanding their gifts into something much more powerful.
On the flip side, the thought of taking your skills up a notch means you are actively opening your heart to the fact you want to be more than a novice, which also expands the expectations you place on yourself before you know if you have what it takes to deliver.
Scary… yes, but all part of stepping into your true creative power.
I totally get it – and I’m calling you out. You know who you are. Or do you? If you have a sneaking suspicion you are holding yourself back in lots of little ways by letting the ego take over, it’s time for a creativity reality check.
Sniffing Out the Creative Deceit Within
The ego is a wily little bugger, so you need to know when you are buying into your own little white lies.
Some questions to help you dig a little deeper:
- Are you using up all your talent creating excuses for why things aren’t flowing for your projects? Or are you trying new things to shake up the results?
- Follow the thread of your excuses. Are they usually built around one thread (an underlying fear) or are they a little smattering of everything (self-distraction technique)?
- Are you often prepared with excuses when you meet up with friends or family about your work or creative projects because that’s easier than sharing the truth; that you aren’t sure how to take a talent to the next level and are a little scared?
- Is uncertainty about how expanding a specific creative talent will ultimately impact your current life path holding you back from trying?
At times, the creative block standing in your way can actually be one of your other strong personality traits. Personally, I’ve had a long-standing challenge with structure and working within it. I get bored quickly and feel it often squashes the freedom I need to create from my heart freely.
Yet, without structure, I can’t take my inspirations and ground them into reality, helping them take shape outside of my own visionary state. Your pet peeves and personality traits can easily limit your creativity and self-expression in interesting ways too, so be sure to include them as part of your creativity reality check.
It Takes Time to Map your Intricate Self-Truths
I don’t know when being unsure became such an awful thing to admit, but here we are as a culture. I say the most powerful thing you can do is admit you DON’T know and are actively taking steps to see what’s behind the excuses that hold you back from your fullest expression of creativity. A natural talent fostered with love and dedication can take you to places you never thought possible, but you won’t know if you don’t try.
We all have gifts we want to pursue but are scared we aren’t good enough to succeed in the way we “think” we should. Don’t let stubbornness, distractions or the little white lies you tell yourself restrain a natural talent from growing into a full-blown creative strength.
What holds you back from taking a natural talent and shaping it into something bigger? Or do you immediately think of all the reasons why it’s best to keep things as they are?
For more on a similar topic, check out Can You Tell When Judgment Creep Snuffs Out Your Creative Spark or Stress and Creative Genius: The Playful Art of Push and Pull. For more insights on how to tap into your inner wisdom, check out my podcast, Flirting With Enlightenment.
Photo Credit: Oslo_Lego – cow Ram Karthik – weather vane