Be True to You

February 26, 2013

Sometimes it is easy to get caught up in the everyday and forget the big picture. Dreams get put on hold or even forgotten and the mundane day to day routine takes over. For me, this is something that is just not ok. Pursuing my dreams is what makes me feel alive. I love being creative and working through projects from concept to fruition. And for the past few weeks, I have been working on one of my biggest projects to date: I got to create and direct a fashion photo shoot (but more on that later…). Being creative on a daily basis is something that I feel I need to do in order to be true to myself. Everyone has that special something that means the world to them, even if they haven’t found it yet. So my message to you is this: find what makes you feel unique and go do it.

Find what makes you feel unique and go do it.

I think everyone has the need to create within them. Growing up, I never believed I was the creative type. I excelled in math and science classes and could never get it quite right in art classes. My english teachers demoted me from honors courses; I felt like I had no creativity in me and just accepted what I was told by those who I assumed knew what they were talking about. But it turns out I do have creativity in me–a lot of it, actually. Looking back, I think I know why I excelled in those areas, and I never realized it until I watched a TED talk by Ken Robinson. In school, we are taught that math and science are the most important courses we take. English is below that and then there is physical education and arts. If you want to be a good student, you must first master the maths and sciences and then you can move onto English and the lowly P.E. and art courses. But this doesn’t make sense. Who decided that formulas and numbers are more important than physical activity and creativity? Don’t we need a balance of all of these things to ensure a productive society?

Who decided that formulas and numbers are more important than physical activity and creativity?

We are taught in school that we must do everything perfectly. Mistakes are not acceptable–it has been engrained in us since we took our first exams in grade school–but in order to truly be creative, mistakes are imperative. How will you ever create something new and useful without ever making a mistake? In fact, sometimes just the fear of making mistakes hinders us from growing to our full potential. This is something that needs to be changed in our society, but it must start within us. Don’t let people tell you who you are and what you are or aren’t good at. No one knows you like you know yourself and just because they think something about you doesn’t make it true. So stop following the rules and be true to you.