RISK

Did you know that Einstein, one of the most revered and creative minds in science was a sailor? Did you know that he couldn’t swim either? An article written in Forbes about ten years ago starts off talking about Einstein and his simultaneous career as a risk-taker.

Throughout his life, and from a very young age, Einstein was empowered to be curious and explore his surroundings. He was comfortable in the potential of failure as well; he was quoted when he took his position at Princeton, saying he needed “a desk, a pen, a pad of paper, and a large wastebasket for all of my mistakes” to get started. 

Another article from Brain Athlete builds on the one from Forbes, which really brings Einstein from this huge pedestal to eye level, quoting “Anyone who’s never made a mistake has never tried anything new”. This really speaks to me, because I’ve always been afraid of failure and thinking that everything I have to put out creatively has to be perfect. I think learning more about Einstein – who people have almost mythicized – and see from his very down-to-earth viewpoint is something I’m going to implement going forward. 

BLOCK

I see myself as creative in a lot of ways; I’ve been playing music for most of my life, I draw, I love to bring different influences together when I create posters and marketing for bands or for a friend’s business, and I’m really good at problem solving. However, I feel that all of these are only possible if I keep moving and collaborating, because if I see myself trying to work completely alone, my drive stalls and becomes stagnant. 

I used to also feel that my inner thoughts and anxiety had a hold on my creativity; I was more occupied with thinking everyone hated my work, and I think that was brought on by trauma from past experiences in school. I know now that my second time around, it’s all different for the better with teachers and classmates who want to help me succeed. 

FINDING CREATIVITY

The one place that I find myself outputting the most creativity is where people go to meet up, especially coffee shops. There's people-watching, listening, and since people are always coming and going, opportunities to find ideas are never in short supply. It also motivates me to get out of my comfort zone and gets me out of the house, because I tend to put off most creative endeavors as soon as I walk through my front door. 

Around Denver, I've kept a few coffee shops on a list that I rotate on going to, namely White Owl on 15th & Blake, Bardo's near Alameda & Broadway, and PigTrain in Union Station. I think creativity goes a long way if you keep moving, and I'm curious to see if another one in town can ignite some other dreams and aspirations. 

INDEX AWARDS

From the Index Design Project, I came across Dan Watson's work on the Pisces device designed to minimize by-catching (catching multiple species) of fish. His implementation of design thinking was what really brought this product together, combining input from the fishing community in his native Scotland, and utilizing marine biology to either attract or deter fish into fishing nets by employing light metrics like polarization, wavelength, intensity, etc. It's a simple, yet highly effective design for productivity and stability of our ocean's ecosystems, and that's the type of design I cater towards. 

SPARKS

     What comes to mind when you hear the word creativity? Thinking back on Elizabeth Gilbert's TED talk on how the ancient Greeks and Romans personified creativity through the muses and daemons, I liken creativity to how they saw the human heart as a furnace and factory. Creativity is a spark that is always in search of how it can ignite a flame, and it's kindling can be a guitar, a pen and paper, a canvas and a brush, etc. And, much like a spark, the conditions it's surrounded by can light up a room or spread like wildfire. 

    Immersing myself and getting out of my comfort zone is how I put myself into those conditions. By getting too comfortable, I feel as though my spark or flame becomes too stagnant and eventually turns to smoldering embers that are still there, but are exhausted and have become too tame to move from one fire to the next. And that's how it's played out for me up until very recently. My spark needed more fuel or to have the winds carry it towards a new source of creativity.

    Throughout all of my years in grade school, I was heavily involved in performing arts, especially in playing music. And, albeit an immersive and wealthy environment to grow as a musician, I used all of my time to focus on it, and feel like I cheated myself out of opportunities to spread my spark into drawing or pottery-making. I took my music into college the first time around, and honestly felt, through making it my school work and not having a strong foundation through my instructors, the fire that I put so much into was being quenched and was gasping for air. I changed my major after only one semester and, although I grew in my experience, I didn't touch an instrument for quite some time. 

    But that's started to change, now that I'm striking my spark in this new setting at CU Denver. I'm feeling a whirlwind of emotions as I'm breaking a new trail in Digital Design at a new school, while also juggling work and my personal life. And it's invigorating. I'm anxious, but in the best way, like Ferdinand Magellan or Francis Drake embarking and enduring to discover something new. 

I'm feeling the heat from my creativity like an ancient fire, and I'm excited how bright it'll burn.