Creativity

By Adriana Berg

Before I started this class if you would’ve asked me if I was creative, I
would have said “I was as a kid but not so much anymore”. As I grew older,
I became under this impression that creative people just had it because that
is who they are, almost as if they were born with it. On the first day of class
you asked, “What is creativity?” This small question really got me thinking.
To some, creativity may mean an artist who creates beautiful pieces of art
and always has extravagant designs. And to others, it may mean an
engineer who found a new way to build bridges more efficiently. This is
something I have changed my views on over the course of this class. Instead
of thinking of creativity as a god given talent, I now think of it as people
who think outside the box to solve difficult problems in new ways.

Another thing I have learned about creativity is that there are many
ways you can go about being creative. I used to think that creative people
just sat there and let the brilliant ideas come to their mind. I now
understand that people use everything from mind maps to SCAMPER charts
to help them be creative. One way I have personally been more creative is
by thinking outside the box and trying to find new ways to solve problems. I
have also learned not to settle for the first idea that comes to mind, because
if more than one person comes up with the same solution, then it is not that
creative. I have been trying to apply being creative to my everyday life
alongside school. For example, every single morning I make my bed, but it
takes forever because I have silk sheets, so they slide all around. One
morning I got tired of wrestling with my bed, sat down and started
brainstorming ways to make this a much faster and more efficient process.
After brainstorming and trying and failing multiple new ideas, I finally
landed on one that works much better. I learned that if I put my weighted
blanket on top of my top sheet rather than under, then it will hold down the
sheets while I am trying to make the rest of my bed. A change so slight and
simple that completely changed my morning routine to be much more time
efficient.

Another way I have been trying to be more creative, or “as creative as
I was as a kid”, is by taking thirty minutes a day to do something that puts
me out of my comfort zone. Whether it be reading a new genre of books that
I have never read before or shopping for clothes that I would not usually
wear, I am trying to push myself to do more uncomfortable things. I think
this is a good way to force myself into trying new things and getting outside
my comfort zone because new and fresh ideas never come from within your
comfort zone. One day I decided to shop for some clothing that was a little
bit out of the box and over the top. After I purchased the clothing and got
home, I started to question my choices. The only reason I was questioning
my clothing choices was because I had never seen anyone wear anything
like it, and I was nervous that people would look at me funny for wearing
them. Once I decided that I did not necessarily care what others thought of
me, I wore the outfit and have never gotten so many compliments in my life.
This was a great example to show me that trying something new can be
scary, but if you just take a leap of faith it will all work out in the end.

​This relates to creativity in school as well. Sometimes trying new
things can be scary, especially if you are presenting it in front of a ton of
college students, but you must always at least try because you never know
the outcome. Not only does this relate to school, but also work as well. I
used to be afraid to speak up and share my thoughts in meetings because I
did not view myself as qualified as the others sitting in the meeting. One
day I just decided to speak up and tell them my idea, because after all if I
was in the meeting, they believed I had some sense of knowledge towards
the subject. To my surprise they actually loved my idea and implemented it
across all of their offices. Overall, this class has really made me tap into my
“inner kid brain” and bring out the fun of creativity again. Rather than
trying to force myself to be creative when I have an assignment due, I now
do small exercises everyday so that I can work on getting my “kid
creativity” back and it has helped me so much.