The Purple Crayon

It is startling how often authority figures, our school system, adults, and society in general try to squash or thwart our creativity from an incredibly young age. These people and systems do their best to discourage our creativity. They try to stop us from having our own creative expression.

When I was in first grade, the teacher gave us each a blank sheet of paper and told everybody to draw a picture of a cake.

I noticed that all the other kids were using a brown or black crayon to draw their cake. So, I decided I wanted to be different and more creative. I started drawing my cake with a purple crayon.

A few moments later, the teacher came over and stood over me. She grabbed the purple crayon from my hand and scolded me harshly. Saying, “No, no, no. There’s no such thing as a purple cake.”

I had to do it over again the “right” way this time. Meaning I had to draw the cake with either a black or brown crayon. The same way everybody else was drawing their cake.

Isn’t the whole point of art to be different from everyone else? To be able to express yourself through your creativity? There doesn’t seem like there would be any point to art if everybody’s art were the same.

This is one example of how the school system and authorities discourage us from creative expression at an early age. After repetitive experiences throughout our young lives, we learn to suppress our creative yearnings and our own unique voice.

It’s no wonder many of us become blocked creatives. By the time we are adults, our creative expression has been deeply buried. We are discouraged from having our own unique voice. Discouraged from expressing our unique view of the world.

One way we can unblock our creativity is by nurturing ourselves.

We can start by taking one baby step at a time.

If you always wanted to be an artist, allow yourself to buy some paint and paintbrushes.

The same for any other creative endeavor. If you want to be a writer, just start writing. If you want to be an actor, just start acting or learn a monologue.

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