An ode to the creative kid I was

When I look back at the stuff I created as a child, I’m like “Wow! How on earth did I even think of that?” Then I compare those ideas to the ones I have now and I realise, at some point I’ve actually lost most of my creativity. Where did it go? I need it now more than ever. How can I be a designer without it?

The problem isn’t the lack of ideas but that the ideas are bad. Really bad. And after you’ve generated 20 or even 50 bad ideas, at some point you’re going to have to choose one of them. Not because you necessarily like it, but because you have to. Then when you go with an idea you don’t like, you’re not proud of the outcome either.

Another thing I miss is the confidence I once had. How come as a child, I believed I could build a robot without any previous experience? Now everything new that comes around, my immediate reaction is “I can’t do it." Younger me would be disappointed.

How ever were we so creative?

Without any doubts or fears, our creativity could fly high. We had trust in our skills; In our eyes, we were the best of the best.

At age 3: We painted using only our fingers. Colours mixing up, colouring outside the lines. Nothing made sense, other than the fact that our creation looked beautiful.

At age 6: We are experimenting and trying to learn as many things as possible. We are filling our time with everything creative, whether it’s poetry, playing an instrument or making sculptures out of playdough.

At age 10: Our imagination is running wild. What if these shoes could leave a trace of rainbows and glitter behind; What if you could fly on an elephant; What if..?

Even our dreams used to be big. If we shared our dreams with our friends, they too believed they were achievable. We would go around the class and tell our dream careers: The room was full of future presidents, astronauts, actors, even one Batman! Everyone took these seriously, we genuinely believed that if we wanted to be those things in the future, we would.

That is the reason why we are where we are now. It wasn’t all about skill, it was the confidence that we can one day be great. That kind of passion drove us towards our dreams.

Another thing that drove me towards my dreams was my father. He has always been my biggest fan and he pushed me to be better by encouraging my passions. When I was around 12, I wasn't good enough in my eyes and all I wanted was praise from my works. So naturally, I went and copied a drawing from a random book. I proudly went to show my newest creation to him. One glance was enough for him to say: "You will never be good enough if you're not even willing to try and learn first." This felt harsh at the time but was very much needed. One thing was sure: I never did it again. To this day, that sentence keeps playing in my head whenever I doubt myself.

It's time to wake up your inner child

So what can we learn from our old selves? Well for one, we need to stop being so damn scared. We are afraid of disappointing some critic that only exists in our heads. Being afraid stops now. We are finally letting go of all the expectations we have set on ourselves, and start being brave to try again.

Failure shouldn't be something to be afraid of, since the best lessons come from mistakes! Mistakes transform into vital information on how to improve your work. Who wouldn't want to become better?

"You don't make mistakes, just happy little accidents."

-Bob Ross