How “Dreaming Big” Is Keeping You Small

Photo Credit: Grace Gelder

Why Pursuing “Your Passions” Is Getting You Down

Creativity means something different to everyone. For you it might mean cooking a new recipe, while for someone else it might mean a large abstract painting. Or you might be one of those lucky people who can flow easily from one skill to another. Knowing what your “flavour” of creativity is can help you go deeper with the stuff that makes your heart sing. Of course, going “deeper” will mean something different to everyone.

I grew up training as a classical violinist, my mother was an art collector, and both my parents taught literature. So I came into adulthood believing the only creativity that “counts” is art with a capital “A”. It took me a long time to appreciate that cooking, gardening, what you wear, caring for houseplants, or something as simple as a book club. All these things are creative too.

On the other hand, you might feel you aren’t “allowed” to make fine art but feel confident cooking for your family. Or is the opposite true for you? Do you feel you’re allowed to do your “real” creative work but bringing your creativity to the “little things” is out of the question? 

Take some time to observe yourself and notice your preferences. Don’t get too big here. There’s no need to consider “what you’re passionate about”. But if you loved cooking the paella last night, write it down. If you think of yourself as a painter, but hate being in the studio at the moment, write that down too.

What Area Do You Feel Naturally Creative In?

If you’re an aspirational person it can be easy to spend a lot of time in the zone of “self-improvement”. The problem is, we can sometimes overlook our natural abilities. In fact, they’re often come so naturally to us that we don’t even consider them when thinking of our talents. 

Sometimes that’s because these talents may not fall into conventional boxes. For example, you may be a good listener, but discount it because it isn’t painting or sewing. But deep listening is the foundation for so many skills, like writing. A good writer needs to be able to listen closely to the people around her and draw from these conversations for dialogue.

Take some time to reflect on the times in your day when you feel at ease. When something feels like you’re “just playing” that might be a sign that you could invest in taking that skill a bit deeper.

The Shadow Side of “Getting Out of Your Comfort Zone”

We all have areas we want to improve. It’s just good to keep these things in their box because otherwise you might find you are constantly feeling inadequate. Check out with yourself whether you’re using the mantra “get out of your comfort zone” to judge yourself. 

Also, it’s good to consider what season of life you’re in. We can’t always do the things that stretch us. Sometimes we need to consolidate and even have idle time. In fact, those can be the times when we make our most important connections. The wonderful writer Brenda Ueland wrote in If You Want to Write, “And it is Tolstoy who showed me the importance of being idle, -- because thoughts come so slowly. For what we write today slipped into our souls some other day when we were alone and doing nothing.”

When “Dreaming Big” Isn’t a Good Thing

Be attuned to any daydreaming that makes your dream too big. While we’re all encouraged to “dream big”, if our imaginations run ahead of us in these tender areas, we can easily be too overwhelmed to even begin. Authors David Bayles and Ted Orlando write in Art & Fear, “The artist’s life is frustrating not because the passage is slow, but because he imagines too fast.”

Hard as it can be, allow ideas to percolate. Share them with a friend over a cup of tea, or write in your journal about it. However you process ideas, take some time to allow it to integrate into your life. Otherwise, you may find your precious dream feels too big to even begin.

Take Baby Steps

Finally, take baby steps. As you progress on your artistic path, make small, practical goals you can reach each day, week, or month, however you work best. Now that you’ve taken care to keep your imagination from running ahead of execution, you should have a sense of the steps you can take toward growing your creative vision. If you become interested in gardening, for example, you may not need to overhaul your entire backyard. Choose one or two plants to focus on so you can build your confidence and make fulfilling your ultimate goal of a wild, blooming garden more likely.

When we run at a vision, underneath it is often a fear of failure. We can sometimes believe doing more means being more passionate, more driven, and more likely to succeed. But doing things with intention is just as important. Try it, and see if it works for you.