I thought I wasn't creative and I was wrong

How I started exploring my creativity and actually created things that I'm proud of!

Apr 16, 2024

When I read this quote below (shared by

a few months ago), I stopped in my tracks for a second: “I do carry a notebook in my bag now… does that make me someone creative? Dare I say, an artist?”

I have a weird relationship with the words creativity and artist. For me, they carry something big - beauty, mastery, fame, money…

I’ve always thought I wasn’t creative… I have creative people around me: my sister loves drawing and my father has always composed piano music for fun. Even if they’re not famous or living from their passion, I still felt they had something I didn’t have.

Over the last few years, I’ve been exploring my creativity and I wanted to share what I’ve learned here, thinking it may inspire others to let their creativity loose too.

I read somewhere that we are all born creative, but there’s a moment in our education when we stop creating freely. We’re given rules to follow and limitations, we’re being assessed, judged by others (teachers, peers…), and for most of us, it nips our creative spirit in the bud.

For me, it happened sometime in secondary school. An art teacher made me feel like I was not good enough and from that moment I thought I couldn’t be a ‘creative person’ anymore.

It all changed six years ago when I attended a personal development workshop (Shine by RoundTable Global) and something clicked into place. We had to draw something with our eyes closed, with music in the background. I felt really nervous about it, but when I opened my eyes, I fell in love with what I had created. We then had to add to the drawing and this is the finished product that I took home and proudly displayed in my bedroom:

There and then, I realised that I actually AM creative.

I can create something unique and beautiful. And it feels good. I started understanding that creativity doesn’t have to be Art. We can create new ideas, connections between people, drawings, songs, poems, movement, objects…

With this new understanding, I felt free to try new things and it removed the self-imposed pressure and the self-limiting belief that I had been holding onto.

It’s not about being, it’s about doing.

Creativity is about doing something using our creative spirit.

For me, it’s about playing with colours, shapes, words, movement, ideas, concepts.

It’s about being free.

It’s about putting things together and sharing the result with the world.

It’s about being proud of what comes out of the process.

Here’s how I do that:

I write my thoughts and knowledge into personal growth articles and posts. I’ve been doing it since I started my business and never quite saw it as a creative practice, but it actually is. I’m taking this to the next level by writing new things and putting together a book. Just yesterday evening, I attended an online creative writing workshop and wrote a very short story on motherly love that I didn’t know I had in me.
I come up with new ideas of products to help people grow, know themselves better and change their life. I design workshops, worksheets and marketing materials.
I create connections between people, trying to see how we can help each other.
I attend creative workshops, such as christmas wreath making, street art, paper collage, watercolour painting, screenprinting... I keep an eye out for new workshops in my area so that I can play with new techniques.
In October last year, I signed up to the Curious Magpie, a 10-week group membership designed by
Océane Meftah
to unlock creativity. Through her reflective and creative prompts, I explored my thoughts, beliefs and emotions behind my creative practice. It was great to understand what was going on in my mind but also to produce creative work and share it with other people. It definitely unlocked something!
I follow online courses to practice different styles and techniques and find my own style. I started with is “Developing Your Visual Vocabulary: A Daily Practice in Mark Making” by Lisa Congdon and I have a few more to go through.
I built new habits: I have a creative session on Sunday evenings when everyone is tucked away in bed. I block a whole day every month for a Creative Date and I go on to explore a building, see an exhibition or do something else that feeds my creativity.
I doodle when I’m in the Tube and I then create paintings and cards that I give away or share on social media, to give them a life of their own.
I take snaps of things that catch my eye.
I go on creative walks: I give myself an objective, such as an area or a building, and I walk with my eyes wide open, looking up, around me, taking pictures.
I also practice contemporary dance in a weekly class and just love how free movement makes me feel.

My creative intention

Now that I feel proud to call myself a creative person, I want to make sure it’s built into my life.

I’m not aiming to become an artist, but my goal is to continue playing, having fun, learning, exploring and most importantly - putting the results of my creative practice out there. If you’d like to follow my creative journey, check out my instagram account @thecreativeside_bycat.