Psychology of the Fittest
I’m still trying to label myself, for the sake of where I might fit, in this whole writer’s landscape, but I have difficulty with time, roles, archetypes, distinction, and of course labels. I’ve been thinking: is there a way to draw a distinction and create a label without boxing myself in by the whole idea? I can see you now. I bet you’re smiling and nodding, perhaps even saying to yourself, “What a naive woman she is. Labels are necessary to help others identify with you.” But secretly you don’t like labels either, and you just haven’t thought about how they’re affecting your creativity.
Even as I write this Grammarly is making editorial suggestions, and I’m accepting many of them, but how can I use tags, genres, tools, and suggestions effectively and still maintain my unique individuality?
I can because I believe that what I have to say has merit. I don’t need to substantiate every claim with a supporting clause. This doesn’t make me an expert. I’ll never claim to be an expert. I’m a participant, and as I participate in my own creativity, which I share, I actively engage in and entertain ideas. I am not a trained psychologist. I am not a scientist nor a computer programmer. I am a Reiki Master, and over the course of many many years, I’ve observed human behavior. People are afraid to differentiate themselves from others. They are afraid to disrupt roles and would prefer to stand in the shadow of their creativity.
And what do I mean by creativity? I don’t necessarily mean crocheting, although this is a creative activity, I am referring to creativity as a kind of soul searching and soul retrieval. Being creative is looking through the lens of creativity to access our own creative spirit. Photography and writing, as examples, become the result of our creative spirit creating, but before we can take a photograph we must tap into the inner lens of our soul/self. This part of us is screaming for acceptance. We’re hungry. We bring this hunger to others in the hope that we will be accepted. Collectively, we’re convinced that the more we share the more opportunities we will have of being seen and heard. But until we reach a place of inner acceptance, I’m afraid these posts we share will go unfulfilled. It’s not the “likes” we’re seeking, but the truth within.
Being creative and sharing is what we’re destined to do. Surviving this Tempest is our psychological test.
I invite you to stop trying to fit into your own narrow uncertain creator’s box. This lens should be wide and experimental. It may be challenged at times by our own emotional limitations, but this isn’t by design. It is by our own mind’s design. Our mind brings us to the box, to the role, to the limitation, but the mind can just as successfully bring us to our unique self. We will not find this self from the number of “likes” we receive, nor from the acceptance, but from the opportunities we give ourself to explore new thinking and new creative outcomes.
