Creative Actualization & the Power to Make (Change)
Dear writer,
I’ve been thinking lately about what happens when we follow the thread of our creative impulse—not just toward productivity, but toward actualization. When we give shape to the ideas and intuitions that call to us, we begin to build trust in ourselves. And that trust, earned through the process of making, is no small thing.
Creative actualization makes us better citizens, unlocking our faith in our expressions and reinforcing our capacity not only to make change, but to make, period.
This kind of making isn’t always tidy or visible or glamorous. Sometimes it looks like a poem draft, a small garden, a handmade zine, or a single choice. Sometimes it’s a shift in how we show up in the world—noticing our surroundings more broadly, responding with increased curiosity, or daring to act before the conditions are ideal.
(I might even say this: It’s creativity—art-making and creative thinking itself—that draws us toward the ideals, bringing this reality closer to that one.)
Making is a form of participating in the world. It’s a way of being in relationship with both what’s here, and what’s possible.
And in a time when so much asks us to feel powerless or perform calcified certainty, the quiet work of creating—of making anything at all—becomes an act of agency, curiosity, and presence.
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It’s easy to look around at the state of things and feel hopeless, or to draw pessimistic conclusions about humanity. As a result, so many of us come to feel as if our own individual impact must be pointless.
But creativity is one of the strongest allies of good citizenry. When we live a more intentionally creative life, we:
Sharpen our skills of expression and become better, more accurate communicators.
Hone our attention, which allows us to see, with unflinching honesty, what’s really happening in the world, and where our advocacy might be needed the most.
Unlock the potential to build community. Whether you share your art or writing with two friends or 1,000 readers, creative work is a portal, where inspired transmissions get sent between people.
Through creativity, we stay in relationship with one another and with the world—even when the world feels fractured.
What I want you to know today:
Your creativity, whatever it looks like and however it shows up, is no indulgence. It is a primary component of a more attuned and thoughtful life.
Creative work allows us to transmit care, clarity, and courage across distances.
Which means it’s never a distraction from the harsh realities of the world. Rather, it brings you closer to yourself—and you are the site of change, possibility, and hope.
