Have you heard? By 2030 in jobs like accountancy and banking could be replaced by computers. Eek! Is there anything computers cannot replace? What does this say for our children’s hopes of a job in a new era?
Artists, musicians, graphic designers and computer game programmers are among the professions least likely to be replaced by robots over the next 20 years but archivists, farmers and distillers are under threat.
YES!
Creativity!
Human beings are unique, complex and extraordinary. At University my Sociology paper was actually about this very subject and I concur that humans are so unique because our brains are connected to our emotions and therefore we have a soul. Many of us believe we are not creative – I was just reading a blog post the other day about a lady who believed this was so. She believed she wasn’t creative one little bit whilst everyone around her said she was.
So how can you be creative?
Personally I believe there are just two things that make us creative:
1. Letting Go
When we are children we explore and create all manner of things but parenting and schooling can drill these things out of is. We become more structured and stuck in our heads too much. It’s time to let go and stop thinking! Have you ever painted with a child? Have you ever tried to control what they do because you want a picture that looks like something? I’ve done it – I don’t anymore because I believe this stops our imagination and creativity. So let go. Get a piece of clay or play dough and just feel it in your hands let your mind wonder – don’t say “I am going to make…” just let it happen. It’s the same as an idea – let it grow!
2. Confidence
Confidence and belief that you are creative can help you no end. Get out of your head and just go for it!
Last week I watched a film (yay!) called “The Vow”. Have you seen it? If you have you’ll know that it is based on a true story of a couple who fall in love, get married and then a terrible car accident causes the woman to lose her memory.
The last thing she remembers is going to Law school and not the fact she is a great sculptor – how different can that be? So what happened to change her mind from Law school to Art? Well it turns out her dad had an affair with her best friend (eek!) and that made her leave home and find her own way – lead her own life.
We can be so influenced by others in our lives (particularly our parents) that we don’t think or look for other opportunities or paths we might walk down. It’s in these life changing moments that creativity can blossom and great things can happen – we are no longer tied to things that hold us back (this is mostly in our minds).
It might be that we never grew up with music or singing in our lives but I know several people who have got to an older age and thought “sod it, I’m going to sing!” It might be you never had chance to draw, paint, dance or sculpt (or many other things) or even if you did you may have been told you weren’t good enough!
There is no time to lose, creativity sets us apart from computers – it makes us human, it makes us alive bringing out passions. Where would we be without all those inventions? Those who think outside of the box and challenge things? Creativity connects people – something a computer can never do!
Further more I believe it is our right to be creative whether its music making, painting or drawing, writing or poetry, inventing or making ideas come alive. Being creative is not just these things I mention it is thinking with our emotions!
From now on make sure you surround yourself and your children or grandchildren in creative pursuits. Music is particularly good for encouraging creativity.
Are your children going to be the creative thinkers and doers of the future?
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