Creativity in any form is not for the faint of heart. During the creative process you will have to be comfortable with the unknown, taking risks, and dealing with failure. And that means you need courage.
A search on Google, will bring many definitions and quotations of courage. It will bring up the heroes, brave acts in history and people who spoke up. The one thing that all of the searches however indicate is that courage is always a choice. It doesn’t happen by itself.
The most common form of courage is however not the big brave act but rather the persistence of continuing what you’ve started. To fail and learn and do it all over again. It is to try painting not once, or twice but ten times. To look for a new way to do something and keep on looking even if there seems to be no possible solution. It is to present a solution, have it criticized or rejected, and try again.
Courage – and creativity – is however a lot easier with the support of others. Having people around you who believes in you, helps you to be courageous. Sometimes they encourage you to try again when you have failed, or they inspire you to look at things from a fresh perspective or sometimes they just say “I know you can do it”.
Do you see creativity as a positive force that improves lives and society? Do you think of yourself as creative and brave? Then remember failure is part and parcel of any creative life. It’s not the opposite of success; it’s an integral part of success. So be courageous and create.
Image credit – poptonicart
