If You stopped making things, That doesn't mean you stopped being creative.
At some point, some (or even most) of us quietly retire from creativity. Not with a formal announcement or anything. Just a gradual drift from the daily grind. The sketchbook moved to a drawer. The guitar went into the closet. The ceramics class you kept meaning to sign up for never happened.
And somewhere along the way, you thought that maybe you really weren’t a creative person.
Here's the thing…you’re more creative than you think.
The Lie Gets Installed Early
It usually happens around middle school. You're in an art class, you make something, and someone else's something is better. Maybe a teacher says it with a grade. Maybe a classmate says it out loud. Either way, the message lands…there are creative people, and then there's everyone else.
What nobody tells you is that "creative" was never supposed to be a category you either belong to or don't. It was supposed to be a way of moving through the world.
The person who rearranges the furniture until the room finally breathes right? That's creative. The one who finds the obscure playlist that makes a dinner party feel like somewhere else entirely? Creative. The friend who wraps a gift in a way that makes the wrapping the gift? Yup…creative. The person who always seems to pick the right font…you get the idea.
Creativity doesn't care whether you have a portfolio or an IG page with 50k followers.
Five Ways You're Already Being Creative (Without Realizing It)
I collaborated on another article recently that broke creativity down into five forms of creativity you’re probably already practicing…without even recognizing them as creative at all. Here's my take on that framework, with a few examples that might hit closer to home.
Solving. Have you ever MacGyvered a last-minute Halloween costume out of a cardboard box and some tape? Figured out how to keep kids busy on a rainy afternoon with whatever's lying around the house? Rearranged your living room furniture until the whole space finally clicked? That's creativity in its most practical form. Problem-solving and creative thinking are the same muscle. Every time you find a workaround, improvise a solution, or make something out of nothing, you're exercising it.
Noticing. This is the one photographers understand instinctively. When you stop to photograph the way light hits your coffee cup in the morning, or you notice a color combination in a thrift store that nobody else sees, you're doing something most people walk right past. Creativity isn't just about making things. It's about paying attention. The DIY project that catches your eye on Pinterest, the room arrangement that stops your scroll mid-feed: that's your eye for beauty doing its job. It never turned off. You just stopped listening to it.
Connecting. A good cook doesn't invent ingredients. They connect them in ways that work. A great gift idea using things you already have in the house is the same instinct: taking what exists and finding a new relationship between the pieces. This is also the creativity behind repurposing a shoebox into storage, turning leftover fabric into something useful, or finding a completely unexpected use for something you were about to throw away. Connecting what's already there in a new way is genuinely creative work.
Organizing. This one surprises people. We tend to think creativity is messy and chaotic, but a beautifully organized closet, a color-coded craft supply drawer, a system for managing holiday gifts that actually works: these are creative acts. Finding a simple, elegant solution to a complicated problem requires the same thinking as any other creative discipline. It just doesn't get the credit.
Asking. This is the most underrated one. Curiosity is where every creative act starts. "What if I tried this differently?" "What could I make with that?" "What would happen if I combined these two things?" Every DIY project, every repurposed object, every craft idea that worked out better than expected started with someone asking a question most people didn't bother to ask. That instinct is creative. It's yours. Use it.
Why We Wait
The most common thing that keeps people from picking back up is the gap between what they imagine and what they can actually make. You have taste. You can see when something is good. And when what you produce doesn't match what you envisioned, it feels easier to just not.
This is not a character flaw. It's actually a sign that your creative eye is working fine. The skill just needs to catch up.
The most important thing you can do is make a lot of work. Make bad stuff. Keep going. The people who ended up doing interesting creative things weren't the most talented ones in the room. They were just the ones who didn't quit.
So, you don't need a career. You just need to keep going…keep being creative.
Nobody Is Coming With a Permission Slip
There's no certification for living creatively. No admissions process. No committee that reviews your work and decides whether you've earned the right to call yourself someone who makes things.
You can start a sketchbook today and fill it with drawings that would embarrass a ten-year-old. You can take photographs of things that interest you with no plan for what to do with them. You can rearrange a corner of your apartment just to see what happens. You can write something nobody will ever read. You can create arts & crafts projects to keep your kids busy (I hear making slime is fun).
None of that requires talent. It requires the decision to start.
The creative life isn't a destination you arrive at after you've gotten good enough. It's a practice. Some days it produces something genuinely interesting. Most days it just keeps the fire lit.
Both of those are worth something.
What FEELING CREATIVE? Is Here For…
This site exists for exactly this space…the people who love art, photography, film, music, design, and writing not necessarily because they make it professionally, but because it matters to them. Because it makes life feel more inhabited.
If you came here from a DIY board or an art inspiration rabbit hole, you're in the right place. Stick around. Browse the photography. Read about the artists, listen to some indie music tracks. Let it remind you of that creative passion that’s inside you…somewhere.
Whether you're looking for art inspiration or just trying to rediscover a creative hobby you left behind, FEELING CREATIVE? is for people who take creative work seriously, even when they do it quietly.
You don't have to be an artist to live creatively. You just have to decide to pay attention.
Recommended Reading: How To Create a Creative Space
Author Bio:
Mike Meyerson is the founder of FEELING CREATIVE?, and has worked in the video/film/advertising industries for over 25 years. He also enjoys photography and has dabbled in screenwriting. This site started as a spark of creativity that snowballed into a passion project. Currently located in NY’s Hudson Valley Region he’s always looking to build the network, find a new cool trail to hike and is already looking forward to his next cup of coffee.
Read Mike’s other articles - HERE.
