The very talented Christine Sheehy wrote this based on Brene Brown’s work, and I loved it when I read it, and got permission to share it here…
Christine writes…
Let’s talk about art scars.
When Dr Brene Brown was conducting her research on shame, 85% of the people she interviewed remembered an event at school that was so shaming, it changed the way they perceived themselves, in life. And for half of those people, the shame concerned creativity.
Those early shaming incidents become art scars that can prevent us from diving into our own creative expression. It feeds into our sense of not-enoughness and fosters the belief that only “other” people are creative. We start to see creativity as self-indulgent, not productive enough, and not worth investing the time or money when what really happened is that our creativity was shut down when we were just kids.
According to Dr Brown, this “unused creativity is not benign” – it metastasises into resentment, grief and heartbreak.
Creative expression matters. Your dreams matter.
Doodling in your journal, picking up a paintbrush, taking a pottery class, writing a poem, playing with a story – if you allow them to be fun if you take away the pressure to be productive or “successful” these things can nurse your creative dreams back to life.
It will likely take time. You may have to let go of the need to be “good” at it, for a while. Stick with it though, and watch yourself grow.
Do you have art scars? What did someone say to you that shut down your creativity – and what has helped you heal?
