Everyone Is Born Creative

Everyone has an internal wee voice that sparks creativity in them. You are given a box of crayons in kindergarten. Then when you hit puberty, they take the crayons away and replace them with books on algebra etc. Being suddenly hit years later with the creative bug is just your wee voice telling you, “Iʼd like my crayons back, please.” You're grown now. And then youʼve got the itch to do something. Write a screenplay, start a painting, write a book, turn your love for birds into a proper poultry business, whatever. You donʼt know where the itch came from; itʼs almost like it just arrived on your doorstep, uninvited. Until now you were quite happy holding down a real job, being a regular person...Until now. You donʼt know if youʼre any good or not, but youʼd think you could be. And the idea terrifies you. The problem is, even if you are good, you know nothing about this kind of business. You donʼt know any publishers or agents or all those fancy Nollywood or music producers. You have a friend whoʼs got a cousin in Lekki, Lagos whoʼs into this kind of stuff, but you havenʼt talked to your friend for over two years... Besides, if you write a book, what if you canʼt find a publisher? What if you pay for the shop at Allen Avenue and not make a sale the first year? If you write a screenplay or song, what if you canʼt find a producer? And what if the producer turns out to be a crook? Youʼve always worked hard your whole life; youʼll be damned if youʼll put all that effort into something if there ainʼt no pot of gold at the end of this dumb-ass rainbow.... Heh. Lots of What ifs.....Thatʼs not your wee voice asking for the crayons back. Thatʼs your outer voice, your adult voice, your boring and tedious voice trying to find a way to get the wee crayon voice to shut the hell up. Your creative wee voice doesnʼt want you to sell something. Your wee voice wants you to make something. Thereʼs a big difference. Your wee voice doesnʼt give a damn about publishers or Nollywood producers. Go ahead and make something. Follow that voice. Make something really special. Make something amazing that will really blow the mind of anybody who sees it. If you try to make something just to fit your uninformed view of some hypothetical market, you will fail. If you make something special and powerful and honest and true, you will succeed. The wee voice didnʼt show up because it decided you need more money or you need to hang out with movie stars. Your wee voice came back because your soul somehow depends on it. It's inherent in humans. Thereʼs something you havenʼt said, something you havenʼt done, some light that needs to be switched on, and it needs to be taken care of. Now. You aren't getting any younger. So you have to listen to the wee voice or it will die...and take a big chunk of you along with it. Theyʼre only crayons. You didnʼt fear them in kindergarten, why fear them now.   Now go. Go make something. Be creative. Follow your passion.