Courage makes art reality. Yes, creativity requires courage. As the French artist Henri Matisse says, “another word for creativity is courage.”
It takes courage to express the things you are passionate about, and to transcend the limits of your comfort zone or the limits of your irrational fears.
Creativity and courage are intimately connected in a synergic relationship: creativity feeds your courage, and your courage brings your creativity to life.
Creativity is changing the status quo, thinking independently, going against conventions and all of that that demands courage.
Courage takes your dreams from wish and fantasy and transforms them into reality. Courage makes your art reality.
So, why does it feel so difficult to allow creativity to seep into even the most regular, mundane parts of our work and personal lives? What it comes down to is this: Creativity brings a healthy dose of risk to the table.
Both creativity and fear are about survival. Creativity is about ‘fighting’, and fear is about ‘flighting’.
If we as children lack the creative experience – opportunities to be curious and try new things – we learn fear instead.
Young people have a great need for action. Therefore, blocking or dismissing their creativity causes them anxiety.
A creative upbringing masters our courage. It helps us to adequately cope with problems and overcome obstacles. It teaches us to be resourceful, resilient and confident. We learn to express our ideas which improves our self-esteem. Practising creativity is practising the act of bravery.
The most common answer of people to ‘what are you fearful of?’ is ‘the unknown’. Creativity by definition is going into the unknown. Allow your children to explore it.
Brené Brown expresses it this way – “No vulnerability, no creativity. No tolerance for failure, no innovation. It is that simple…If you’re not willing to fail, you can’t innovate. If you’re not willing to build a vulnerable culture, you can’t create.”
