How Old Were You When You Lost Your Imagination?

How old were you when you stopped playing with dolls? I was 12. The choice was a conscious one, I do remember that I didn't simply grow out of it. I just remember thinking I was getting too old for it. This thought was never followed up with, "okay now that that's behind me how will I continue to us my imagination?" You may be thinking "I never played with dolls!" my older sister didn't. That's okay my point still applies. When I was a kid I had a very active imagination, I loved to play house and create an imaginary life for myself and friends. Imagination seems to be the word we use for kids and creativity is the word we use when we get older. I know far too many people who don't think their creative. Well I am here to tell you that just isn't true. My SIL shared this quote on Face Book the other day and I think it fits perfectly here..“Everybody is a genius. But, if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it’ll spend its whole life believing that it is stupid.” –Albert Einstein 

Are you a fish trying to climb a tree? Or haven't even attempted to be the fish climbing the tree because the dominating thought is "I'm not creative." If your a fish you just need to find water and stop wandering through the coyote's domain in the arid South West where there is little water to be found. My point is this, when you dropped the imaginative play when you were a kid and left it for the tiny bopper faze did you then start your life of creativity? Or when we abruptly leave our imaginations because their keeping us tethered down to being a child did you instantly find your creative voice? Or are you still looking? As I pondered this point I realized my daughter is 7 and enjoys playing school (more then house), she loves drawing and making books. Do I do enough to help her explore her imagination and when she transitions out of the imaginative play will I be there to help her transition from that to identifying her creative voice? In putting this all together, what I am saying is I am going to pay attention to the process my kids will naturally go through and be there to help them, not push and prod, just lovingly help since I know them well. Just as our Father in Heaven knows us well and can help us in finding our creative voice, if we let Him and if we go to Him. Just trust Him and the path He is leading you on, it may seem a strange way to get to where you want to be, but in hindsight it will all make sense. And you'll be glad His ways aren't our ways. 

When we label ourselves un-creative we tend to hold back from sooo many things without even realizing it. It took me from about age 15-28 to allow myself to be called "creative" or "photographer." That's a chunk of time! I'm not gonna say I didn't try new things, I have always LOVED trying new things. However, when I was 12 I went from imagination to purely seeing myself as athletic, I lived for basketball, track, longboarding and bike riding, as I got older, soccer, and mountain biking. It's true I started my love of taking pictures at age 12ish and it got a bump at 15, the problem is I never allowed myself to think of myself as anything relating to creative and it really stunted my creative growth. Then I had kids and it changed my body A LOT and then I had to go through this whole thing of accepting my body and well that's a whole other post.  I bring this up because when I didn't feel like I could identify myself as "athletic" anymore I started to develop my creative side in leaps and bounds mostly by allowing myself to, and stopping the negative self-talk. It may seem too simple a point to consider, but how you talk to yourself is everything! If my body had never went through changes and I had two kids and was constantly active like I was before then I am confident I would never have developed my creative side.Things like the Self-Reliance Fair and THE SIP PROJECT and Service Beans would never have come into being and who can imagine their lives with out The SIP project Lol;)

 It's not good to hold our worth only when we can identify ourselves as athletic, creative, book smart, etc. Even without any of that we are children of God and because of that we all have inherent worth. On the other side of the coin as children of God we naturally want to create and when we don't we become frustrated whether you realize it or not. We are happy when we are learning, growing, and creating. Did you get lost like I did? If so it's never to late to find your creative voice. I found mine, and when you do find it it doesn't mean you don't have to hone it in and work hard, you just enjoy it, it awakens a part of your being to the point of not being able to imagine your life any other way. Above all though, without my knowledge that I am a daughter of God I would always be looking for something to fill that void and I don't have to, knowledge brings completeness.

 As I read it and re-read it I think of points to add on or ways to clarify and well here it is, my hope is that the point I am trying to make well written or not comes across and gives you something meaningful to ponder. I'm not a fish in water when it comes to writing, but it is from my heart. Love you all.

Be kind to yourselves.