On Being Creative

I have been pondering lately about how much I need to be creative. If a day goes by that I have not been able to stretch my imagination or dive into my creative nature, I feel dry and lifeless. It's not that what I create is a masterpiece. That's not the point. But the act of doing is.

It's another matter to be entertained by things. That does not involve being creative yourself, and that does not fulfill my longing to be creative. I need to create something. A poem. A few paragraphs of stream-of-conscious writing. Taking some creative photographs. Playing songs on my piano. Crocheting blankets for all the babies my friends are having.

For being creative is like breathing for me. Every day it is essential and I cannot get through my day without it.

I picked up my first roll of film developed from my new vintage 35mm camera (a 1975 Minolta SR-T 200) and I shuffled them around on my floor to check them out. These are my favourites. I have many that are not as pretty. A few are blurred. I didn't have the shutter speed set correctly for the first few. My focus is off on a couple. But now I know a few things I need to tweak as I practice more.

And that's the thing. Practice.

Practice doesn't make perfect. There is no perfect. But it makes better. And better. And better.
And that's where the creativity grows into something beautiful. When you keep going at it, determined. Even when you mess something up. Keep going at it and never stop doing what you love.