Let’s talk about how to awaken your creativity.

“But I’m not creative!” is a line I hear all the time when I encourage clients to follow their inspiration. “But Creativity is for the talented. I don’t have any special musical or artistic skills,” they protest.

I get it. I used to feel this way about my own abilities. But it’s just a belief. It’s not the truth. And, like any fear-based belief, you can transform it.

I want to share with you the story of how I silenced the voice in my head that protested “But I’m not creative!” and woke up to my creative potential.

I was 21. I had just packed all my belongings in my trusty VW Bug and driven 12 hours from Chapel Hill to Naples where I would work as a photojournalism intern.

I was so nervous about my first legit photo job that I accidentally dropped a heavy telephoto lens into the ocean on my first assignment. It took all my willpower to hold back tears as I admitted my grave mistake to my photo editor.  I felt so self-conscious at my lack of experience as a “real” photographer despite taking undergrad courses. Needless to say, it was a rough start.

My third week on the job, my editor Judy Lutz and fellow photographer extraordinaire Lexey Swall invited me over to escape the hustle of the newsroom and tap into a different kind of creativity.

Lexey handed me a paintbrush and blank white canvas and told me it didn’t matter I hadn’t ever oil painted before. “But I’m not creative,” I protested. “Yes you are, and it’s easy!” she challenged me, eyes sparkling. And just like that, I picked up a paintbrush and began to paint.

Something wild and powerful in me opened up that day. I was suddenly wide awake to my creative power.

It was as if the simple act of applying that first blue coat to canvas had infused me with creative superpowers. I chose to believe I could do it. With each brushstroke, I gave my self-limiting beliefs a makeover. I was having fun.

That was the first day of what felt like an endless summer of love, art, and adventures. By day I would photograph gators in the Everglades. At sunset I would change into my swimsuit and drive an hour north with my 17-year-old drummer boyfriend to the Sarasota drum circle, dancing my heart out under the full moon.

I was drunk in my love–not just for him–but with this newfound power coursing through my blood. In the shower or in the newsroom, I couldn’t stop singing. I was eking paint, photographs, and poetry outta my ears.

It was the most alive I had ever felt in my life, the first summer since I was 14 not marked by depression and doubt.

Now, whenever I choose to engage in a creative act, all those sensations of that summer come rushing back to me. I smell the turpentine of the oil paint. Twirling until I’m dizzy under the moonlight, I feel the sweat drip down my bronzed legs. I taste the salt on my lips, the bitter grit of sand in my mouth. Heart beating strong, I’m about to burst from the exertion of dancing and the anxiety that inevitably accompanies young love. I feel connected to my body, forever rooted to this place in time.

So what’s the deal? How did I awaken a creative part of me so seemingly effortlessly? How can you awaken your creativity?

It’s actually quite simple. Here are a few tricks I use in activating this deeply creative part of myself.

How to Awaken Your Creativity:  4 Suggestions

ONE. Just do it

Seriously. Stop over-thinking. Stop believing the excuses your ego wants you to believe. Creativity isn’t just for professional artists. You ARE capable of writing that poem, dancing to the beat in a new way, singing your heart out at the top of your lungs. Stop thinking, and just DO it.

TWO. Create with friends (or strangers!)

Ever wonder why you enjoyed sharing a table with your best friends in elementary school art class? Or why you loved playing MASH at recess? Or why Wine and Design is such a big hit? Creative ideas are more fun when shared! Sometimes all it takes is a little encouragement from a friend to keep making that mark.

I’m a professional artist, but I make it a point to create outside my studio, with friends who aren’t professional artists. We work on our individual craft projects while the conversation (and tears! and wine!) flows naturally. It feels so good for my soul.

THREE. Learn to feel your joy. Then make it a point to feel that every day.

This is a hard one if you’re not accustomed to feeling joy.

For me, joy feels expansive. I feel my chest open up. I stand taller. I laugh heartily, un-self-consciously. This feeling was so unfamiliar to me at first, that I didn’t recognize it as a positive one. But the more I tuned into the feeling and felt how it was expressed in my body, the more I was able to relax into it.

I learned to pay attention to the sensory details of the people, places, and activities where I felt joy. Then I recreated it on my own. I tuned into what I liked and gave myself permission to immerse myself in positivity and tune out the rest.

FOUR. When all else fails, go back to what you loved to do as a child.

Did you love playing in the sandbox? Drawing colorful chalk murals on the sidewalk? Playing kickball? Singing in your middle school choir?

Do those things! If they brought you joy then, they’ll probably bring you joy now. Help your kids with their chalk murals, or join an adult kickball league! Socialization and pressure to engage in “age-appropriate” activities probably got in the way, blocking you from feeling joy.

Now it’s your turn to awaken your creativity.

What was one creative activity you seriously LOVED as a child? How did you feel when you were doing it? What’s one way you can you incorporate that activity back into your life now?