Are you an artist or a normal person

trick question because it's a false binary. let's discuss.

Growing up I never identified as “creative” or “artistic.” In my mind, artists were emotionally unstable, broody-and-pretentious DIVAs who were allowed to behave like children because they had what the world called “innate talent.” To be creative meant you dressed schleppy, couldn’t hold a job, and were “self-involved but it’s fine because you’re a genius.”

I suspect a large part of this terrible stereotype was passed down to me from television and movies, not to mention, school. “The artist” was always represented by a Dalí, Van Gogh, Dickenson, or some other eccentric personality type as famous for their character oddities as they were their art.

For far too long, as a result, I divided the world into a false binary: “creatives” and “not creatives.” Artist and muggles. Genius and regular. And I fell staunchly in the “regular, not creative” category. It’s not reality, because nothing is this black-and-white, but I never thought to question it until one day I was sitting in a coffee shop in Manhattan with a new friend who referred to me as a creative.

I nearly spit out my coffee.

“I’m sorry, what?”

At the time, I wasn’t sure if I’d been complimented or insulted. It felt like a compliment, but I thought maybe I’d tricked her and misrepresented myself. I’m not creative! I have a normal job. I’m not creative! I own a sweater set and pearls. I’m not creative! I like mainstream music. I’m not creative! I don’t have any talent. I can’t sing or play an instrument.

Please forgive me for all these offensive tropes, I’m embarrassed admitting that this is where my head went. It’s the truth of what was going on in my mind. You were either an artist - according to this very narrow definition - or not. And I was not.

Except that, I was an artist and I was creative. And so are you.

Creativity has little to do with your appearance and even less to do with The Performing Arts (in fact, some of the most rigid thinking can be found in traditional Performing Arts Centers). Creativity is not confined by genre or your craft.

It’s in your approach to the world.

It’s in the eyes.

It’s seeing a new path forward. It’s asking, “Why?” and, “What if we try it this way?” It’s envisioning something that doesn’t exist. It’s trying things that don’t work. It’s exploring a direction. It’s playing with no end goal in mind. It’s following curiosity, inquisition, and desire. It’s taking an idea that lives in your mind and making it tangible.

I’ve met thousands of creative artists who call themselves engineers, project managers, sales reps, business owners, scientists, biologists, parents, doctors, chemists, physicists, and mechanics.

I had confused what it was to look like an artist with what it meant to be artistic and to be creative. Creativity transcends genre. It’s beyond craft. It’s an approach to the world. It’s how you see. Where you look at what exists, take what doesn’t exist, and imagine what could be.