Self expression is a tricky thing, isn’t it? At least for some of us. If you’re a person who had to go through life choosing between authenticity and safety, the creative process can be fraught with anxiety. 

While we long to create, to express a part of us that can only emerge through the creative process, the act of self expression is scary. If we share our creativity with other humans, we’re opening ourselves up to criticism, and even the possibility of being ridiculed or ostracized. If we never received acceptance from our caregivers, that fear is amplified by repeated experiences of rejection. There’s a good chance we don’t even KNOW how to express ourselves authentically if we spent our lives trying to please everyone but ourselves.

As creative adults, it can be difficult to create from our hearts when we share our work with others. If our work meets with disapproval, we might once again feel rejected and isolated. If our work meets with approval, we might feel obligated to continue creating the same popular types of work even if the joy is gone from the process and we long to try new things. 

And yet for some of us – myself included – creative work is something we long to share. I know for myself, sharing creative work is one of the few ways I feel comfortable connecting with other humans, especially the ones I don’t know intimately. It’s a way of saying “this is who I am” without oversharing personal details or making myself vulnerable to strangers on the internet. If someone appreciates my creative work, then maybe we have enough common ground to share more. At the very least, we can have a positive interaction in a world where those seem to be getting rarer every day.

So it’s tricky territory. On the one hand, some of my most positive experiences of connection have been through sharing my creativity. On the other hand, sharing my work can make it difficult to enjoy the process of making without worrying about what others will think. It can make it difficult to create authentically, to play, to explore.

One of my goals for this turn of the wheel is to create for the joy of the process, for my mental health, and for spiritual growth first. To consider pleasing myself and my Gods before pleasing anyone else. And to only share if I want to, without obligating myself. It’s still self expression even if I’m only expressing myself to myself and the spirits who keep me company when humans are too much. And maybe sometimes for my cats.

Questions to ponder:

Who do you create FOR? For yourself, for other humans, for the land, for the Gods or other spirits?

When was the last time you did something creative just for joy, play, and/or exploration?

When was the last time you made something just because you wanted to, for the pleasure of doing it, for yourself?

How do you feel about showing your work to other humans?

Do you worry about how your creativity will be received by other humans WHILE you are creating?

If so, how does that worry affect your enjoyment of the creative process?

Does that worry influence WHAT you create?

What would you create if you knew everyone would love it? Or if you didn’t care what anyone else thought of it?

Photo by Taylor Wright, courtesy of Unsplash.

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