unused creativity isn't benign, it metastastizes 😳

I was just minding my own business, doing the dishes and listening to Brené Brown's audiobook the Power of Vulnerability, and I heard something that made me need to turn off the water and put down the dishes. 😮

It's an older book, so this may not be new to you, but it was new to me. Brown was going through her guideposts to wholeheartedness that she outlines in The Gifts of Imperfection. One of those guideposts is about creativity. And she says:

"Unused creativity isn’t benign. It doesn’t go away. It doesn’t just sit there. It metastastizes."

Well, f###. 😬

That explains a lot.

That explains the feeling that something was missing. That life was meant to be more. The simmering dissatisfaction that would flare up from time to time.

There are some lawyers who can look at how you structure a contract, or a clause, or how you draft a break fee, and it feeds their creative soul.

I am not one of them.

😬🤷‍♂️

For me, my creativity is painting, writing, drawing. So when I was in my years of being super busy with just law, there was a part of me that was starving to be creative.

I had so much unused creativity, and it was eating me from the inside out. Literally? Maybe. Not that I know of yet. But figuratively? Absolutely.

I've got a better balance these days and it makes a huge difference to be writing a daring adventure, or putting brush strokes down to pick out that perfect highlight.

And when I don't get the balance right, I notice it. And that's the first step towards getting it right.

So, I try to not just feed my creativity, but pay attention to the how of it.

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