Liberate to Create

“No thanks, I’m not really an artist.”

When I ask acquaintances to try Serenity Sketch, this is a response that I get way more than I expected. ¹ Serenity Sketch is indeed kind of about art…so I get why folks put it through that filter. But the main mechanic of the game - evaporating water painting - is wired to help Let Go of self-judgment.

So when someone says “I’m not an artist,” I’m all lined up: “Perfect,” I respond. “You’re exactly who I made this thing for!” Four years ago, when I was humming and hawing about leaving my stable finance career, I felt the same way. I didn’t identify as an artist, so I didn’t try things that were “creative.”

But why?

1. I’d never trained or built a career as an artist. It wasn’t on my LinkedIn or my CV. So I’d quietly removed creativity, the craft of the artist, from my identity.
2. I thought creativity was mostly confined to the world of “the arts.” Specific things like painting, coloring, music, dance, sculpture, sketching.
3. The biggest reason: if I were to create something, like an artist does, I’d want it to be good. And because of point one, I couldn’t create good, so I didn’t want to try.

That last point deserves special attention. For me, that kind of self-consciousness set in around the teenage years, right when the imaginary audience kicks in, the sense that everyone’s watching and judging you.

Like the forbidden fruit of the tree of knowledge, we start noticing what others think of us: peers, societal values writ large. That realization leaves us vulnerable to criticism, so we become our own critics, trying to control our image and person, so as to cut off embarrassment before it strikes.

The instinct is necessary, even helpful, for some things, like cooperation and community. But it stifles that divine seed of unfiltered self.

And in the realm of artistry, it demands of every 12 year old to pick a lane. Either clutch your crayons, take up the title of Artist, and subject yourself to the weight of scrutiny. Or lay down your refrigerator scribbles, and join the ranks of mortals who do things like sports, or fashion, or computers.

In Serenity Sketch, we devote two entire Paths to unlearning this self-censorship: the Path of Imperfection, and the Path of Child’s Play. But before you run off to try those…

Here’s a little exercise you can try here and now. It was developed by monks about 1500 years ago, and variations of it are found across many faith families and modern philosophies. It’s called the apophatic approach. It’s subtractive, to get down to a core essence. We start with an assertion, we look for the truth in it. But we also notice how it’s only a partial truth. Then we subtract, and see how that shifts the meaning.

The starting assertion, which is a core belief for me:

You don’t need to be an artist to be creative

Or, flipping it around, To be creative, you don’t need to be an artist. We’ll subtract from the back of the sentence, starting with the final word “artist.”

To be creative, you don’t need to be. To be creative, you don’t need to be something … well-practiced, precise, an expert, fully understanding what you create. And keep subtracting.

To be creative, you don’t need. How does that change the meaning for you?

To be creative. And now?

To be.

Be.

I know in my core that our birthright as human beings is to create. Human be-ings create. You didn’t need to be taught to play with Legos when you were 6, or to scribble with chalk on the ground when you were 3.

If now, you look at a blank sheet of paper ² and think to yourself, “I’m not an artist, so no thanks” … well, I made Serenity Sketch for you! It’s a physical way of practicing the negation. The evaporating water painting does the subtraction for you, in real time. By the end, there’s nothing to judge, because whatever you’ve painted has floated away. You can just Be.

So here’s the invitation: Let down the guard of professional identity; stop staying in your lane. No one is watching or judging you, and your first Practice in Serenity Sketch is an outstretched hand to create again.