What “Creativity” Means to Me

Have a story you’d like to share about survival? Submit your piece, whether it be poetry, prose, art, or photography, to our literary journal, Songs of Survival! 

For as long as I can remember, I have always avoided anything “creative” – visual art, creative writing, and so many other activities I may have enjoyed were things that I had deemed off limits for myself.

I’m not entirely sure where this came from, although I’m always inclined to blame it on a kindergarten teacher who told me my art was bad and that I should be more like a classmate who had managed to colour inside the lines. It seems a little dramatic to trace it back to a passing remark made eighteen years ago, sure, but the comment always stuck with me when I was a child, and it led me to avoid art altogether. Throughout my elementary and secondary education, I felt intense shame and embarrassment in any activity that involved drawing, music, or creative writing.

Conversely, I have always excelled at purely academic pursuits; research, reading, and writing have been the focus of my life for many years now. I chose to major in political science for my undergraduate degree because I loved the formulaic and methodical structure of the writing – it did not require me to be creative. It was easy, then, for me to think once again that I was simply not meant to be a creative person, and that the entire realm of artistic pursuits was forbidden territory to me. It wasn’t until I saw a friend share a link for Songs of Survival that I saw a place where my own interests and talents might fit into an artistic forum. I felt like I was going out on a limb when I applied for a position on the literary journal team; I was entering a world that I knew nothing about. 

I was relatively comfortable editing narrative pieces, given that editing papers for myself and my classmates was something I was quite experienced at – but when I was assigned a poem to edit for the first time, I was admittedly quite nervous. I wasn’t confident that my opinions on a poem could be valid. But, I used the experience as a learning opportunity, engaging in long and detailed discussions with the author about the meaning behind their piece and the reason they chose poetry as a medium. I came to understand what lies between the lines of a poem, and I also learned more about myself in the process.  Since then I have continued to edit a variety of works from the authors who have submitted to our literary journal, and it has opened my eyes to the world of “creativity” that I had once avoided. 

I have come to learn that there are no rules in a setting like the one we have created here at Songs of Survival. It is a place where anyone can contribute, no matter where they come from, what they look like, or what their strengths and weaknesses are. Contrary to what I believed for most of my life, you do not have to be an intrinsically artistic person (like one of my childhood friends who seems to have been born with the ability to draw portraits so realistic they look like photos) to participate in either the creation or the enjoyment of creative work. I truly believe that my life has been enriched by my experience engaging with the wonderful narrative, poetic, and visual art that our contributors have bravely submitted, and my epiphany on the subject of “creativity” has encouraged me to pursue new hobbies that I previously would have avoided. So far, I have learned that embroidery is a lot harder than it looks, but this time, rather than giving up, I’m going to give myself the grace that learning any new skill requires. That lesson has changed my life, and it was only possible thanks to this literary journal and its wonderful contributing authors.