Why be creative?

I presented an author talk the other day. It was in Ashington, the town I spent my early childhood. It was moving to return to where it all began, to recall my younger years. Sprinting to the library after school to replenish my supply of Doctor Who books. Sitting in those first English classes, young imaginations waiting to run wild. My rose tinted spectacles view those days with a deep fondness. Time bathes the past in the warmth of sunset. The audience were good, and kept me on my toes with some challenging questions. One asked why I felt the urge to write, and if I enjoyed being creative. It’s a question that has stayed with me in the days since.

Humanity is at its greatest when we are being creative. Music and words are my struggle to find happiness, meaning, who I might be, and what I might become. As a species we possess the wonderful ability to look at the world around us, to analyse, interpret it, but more importantly change it. As Marx said creativity is our very essence, what separates us from all other creatures, what makes humanity special. Other creatures make things, but none have the vast creative power and potential to change the world as much as us. At our very best our creativity is astonishing, at our most destructive it is terrifying. It took me many years to figure this out, but I only ever feel at peace with myself when I’m creating. Once I realised this everything changed. My passions are music and words. They are my road. All I need to do is find an idea, and take the first step, then another, and another, and keep going. Where they lead to is not the point, the journey itself is all that is important. The journey and all that I learn along the way, the experience, and how it changes me.

Many of you are the most creative people I know. You inspire me and many others. I see it daily. Some of you don’t even realise how creative you are, but we all have imagination. Creativity is simply having the courage and skill to turn your imagination into words, pictures, music, song. Nothing is forbidden, anything is possible. Every page is blank, every note unsung, each journey is waiting to be taken by you.

Many of us wrestle with dark demons, questions about how to fill those pages, barriers of confidence, self doubt, even loathing. I have them. We all do. In those moments I tell myself life is fleeting, and though there may be many reasons not to do something, I know there is nothing more memorable or rewarding in life than coming together to sing, dance, tinkle or toot. By far the best moments in my life have been creative. Even my kids I helped create. Capturing new moments and making new memories is all that matters now. ‘He not busy being born is busy dying.’

Today is my birthday, so please allow the indulgence of self-reflection. Today’s wish is a simple one. Whatever your gift, and we all have at least one, don’t waste your opportunity. The point of living is not only to experience the world, but to transform it, and through creativity you transform both the world and yourself.