Your Creativity's Secret Power
Being in the Driver's Seat
The invisible gift that creativity offers to every living being is personal agency. And it almost never gets talked about—even by so-called creativity experts.
Now, I’m not saying creativity gives you a feeling or a sense of personal agency. I’m saying it gives you actual personal agency. It puts you in the driver’s seat of your own life. It grounds you in your sovereignty.
This is its super power. Its essential nature.
It’s the fundamental reason creativity matters. Why it makes you feel connected and fulfilled. And why it’s required for true, full self-expression.
It’s also why leaning on it for your political responses in the coming months can keep burnout or feelings of futility at bay.
Because to ground yourself in your own personal agency couldn’t be more urgent in a political moment literally designed to rob you of that agency.
Which is exactly why I’m offering the Creative Change-Makers Workshop on April 3.
And everyone who reads this newsletter is completely qualified to participate.
Liberating Playtime
The Creative Changemakers workshop is not so much about making art about our political situation as it is about being creative, playful, and “allowing” in your responses to the political situation.
It’s about offering some breathing room from feeling reactive, panicky, angry, or afraid. And yes, you might use the meeting to make something artful, but the goal of this workshop isn’t to create good art about the political situation.
It’s about finding your agency through the joy of doing something fresh, unexpected, different, fun, silly, weird, delightful, or oddball in your response to what’s happening politically in the world right now.
You know, something creative.
It’s also about getting energized by the togetherness. Creating a container of connection that supports your willingness to explore ways to resist, feel good, and stand in your sovereignty.
By coming, you aren’t promising to make something. OR promising to put it out in the world. You are only promising to be attentive to possibility and your own inner voice.
It’s 110% okay to have zero ideas and still come. You can just watch and listen. And when you do that, you’re still helping to concentrate the energy of the group.
It’s 110% okay to come even if you think you don’t have a creative bone in your body. You can even just come because you feel hopeless or afraid and want to feel a little less hopeless and less afraid.
It’s 110% okay to come with an idea that you don’t think is particularly creative. Maybe you want to make a sign. Big deal, you think. What’s creative about that? Well, I’ll show you. AND, this workshop will create the time and space to help you make that sign a physical reality.
It’s also 110% okay to come just to feel some good juju and donate your good vibrations.
Creativity as Freedom
There are so many teeny, tiny, mundane ways to be creative that feel irrationally satisfying. That irrational feeling is the personal agency part.
Personal agency is the foundation of self-determination. Self-determination is the cornerstone of our democracy. This is why it’s so important to bring creativity to this political moment because:
Creative people think for themselves.
Creative people come up with surprising solutions.
Creative people are open to possibility.
Creative people make space for the unknown.
Creative people are more free.
Creativity is also contagious. When you allow yourself more creativity, you model that to others.
When you model creativity, you are actually teaching others what freedom looks like. That’s right—you heard me—freedom.
And finally, creative people can fill their own well again and again simply by being creative. Nothing could be more important in these crazy times when the people in charge seem hell-bent on sapping our reserves and overpowering us with insanity.
Creative Change-Makers Workshop Details
It’s April 3 at 4pm Pacific, 5pm Mountain, 6pm Central, and 7pm Eastern.
It’ll be between 75 and 90 minutes long. Show up for as long as you like or as long as you can.
All you need to attend is to be a paid subscriber. The annual subscription is 36.00, which is 3.00/month.
If you only want to sign up for one month in order to take this particular workshop, you can do that too for 7.00. Just click on the subscribe or upgrade button at the bottom of this missive.
After you upgrade your subscription, you’ll receive a registration link.
*Current paid and founding subscribers: There is a link for you to register for the workshop in the header or footer of this very email. You will also receive an email invitation with the registration link in the next few days as well.
If you missed last week’s post, you can read specifics about how the workshop will be structured here.
If you are intrigued but have questions or feel intimidated or unsure in any way, please leave a comment or write me back.
Also, if you have any thoughts about creativity and personal agency, please leave a comment.
(Or just click on the heart icon below—because when you click on the heart icon, it helps this newsletter grow!)
P.S. Very Inspiring Link
If you need to read something hopeful about how we can implement the change we need to succeed, read this BBC article about how it only takes 3.5% of the people to change the world. Scientifically!!
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20190513-it-only-takes-35-of-people-to-change-the-world
We so got this!
Sarah, I love this!! I could not agree more. And I love the idea for your workshop!
In today’s post, I wrote about cultivating joy as a way to see ourselves through this mess—how it provides fuel for action and a sense of agency. And, creating is a big part of what gives me joy. ✨
Keeping the arts alive in schools is SO important.
The arts are not a luxury... they're a necessity!