Why Accessing Your Creativity is a Form of Dissent
With the recent passing of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the first Jewish woman — the second woman in a total of, now, five — to serve on the Supreme Court of The United States, it got me thinking about the motivation behind my work. For one, both Ruth Bader Ginsburg and I are Jewish and, while Jews are in no way a monolith, a fundamental pillar of Jewish life and history is a duty toward revolution and justice for the betterment and healing of the world. Dissent has been one of our greatest traditions for thousands of years so it doesn’t surprise me that working toward justice against an oppressive status quo is, both, what Justice Ginsburg (may her memory be a revolution)became notorious for and how I approach my work.
As a Creative Liberation Coach, my work focuses on pushing back against the status quo, not in the realm of the law, but in the realm of inner development. Empowering people to show up and create their lives in alignment with who they are is the goal.
Currently, it is considered radical to choose yourself and take care of your needs without apology. Taking time and granting ourselves permission to rest, play, listen to our intuition, and set boundaries is still too often met with extremely harsh criticism, both, from loved ones and the violent grind culture we’ve found ourselves in.
As a coach and transdisciplinary artist myself, I help people understand the ways harmful societal norms have been conditioned and internalized, often leading us to be, at the very least, incredibly unkind to others and ourselves regarding almost everything.
Accessing creativity is not just for “creative” people or people working in creative fields. Everyone is deeply creative in their own ways and different contexts and circumstances bring out innovative ways of living and thinking no matter how gifted you may think you are or not. Creativity is being stuck in a bind and experimenting with ways to get out of it. Creativity is letting your mind wander. Creativity can look like connecting meaningfully with another person. It’s deciding what you want to make for dinner or if you want to make it at all. It’s naming ourselves and actively taking control of our lives. Creativity is not just about having an end product, but living the process of creation ourselves.
From the moment we are born, we are in a constant state of transformation.
Accessing our inherent creativity means allowing ourselves to unlearn capitalistic tendencies and, instead, be in tune with our natural cycles and need for rest, daydreaming, and joy. It is allowing time to discover and learn how to act in alignment and support of who we are as individuals and members of the community rather than focusing on colonialist behavior of domination through competition and exploitation. All the “fake it til you make it,” doing things the “right” way, dressing for the job you want are bullshit ideas. These ideas imply that there is a superior way to be a human, which are all symptoms of larger oppressive structures. Reclaiming our creativity denounces our white supremacy and patriarchal culture because it recognizes our inherent worthiness for love, acceptance, and safety within ourselves and in relationship with others. It sends a resounding message of “fuck off for forever” to systems of oppression.
Often when we think of creativity as a vehicle of dissent, we think about art. Especially in trying times a great deal of responsibility is typically placed on the shoulders of artists to document the moment and hold truth to power. Great art does come out of some of our darkest moments and is able to connect us to the indelible spirit, strength, and fragility of the human condition. Using your imagination to envision a new world is not just the artist’s job, but all of ours to embody and practice. That’s where necessary change happens. Creativity is the responsibility of everyone.
What good does it do to expect artists, people who are already deeply undervalued and exploited in our society, to carry us into a better world if we keep doing the same things day in and day out that keep the violence of capitalism and colonialism alive and well. A couple of those things include: not allowing ourselves to rest when we’re tired and not doing things that light us up because it’s constantly impressed upon us that we need to earn those things. We need to “grind” and “hustle” in order to deserve a pleasurable and meaningful life. As The Nap Bishop, Tricia Hersey, reminds us, that way of thinking and functioning is directly related to the history of chattel slavery in this country, “Grind culture is a collaboration between white supremacy and capitalism. It views human bodies as machinery.” And “If you are speaking about grind culture and not uplifting the history of slavery and the plantation labor of enslaved Africans, then you are co-opting the message. If you are not deeply studying, dismantling and naming white supremacy as the foundation of grind culture, then you are simply extracting.” Viewing creativity as a luxury and privilege is a tool of white supremacy that deliberately keeps our lives revolving around production. This is a reminder of the importance of resisting against that.
These systems are too large and complicated for any one individual to completely disrupt and change, but when an individual makes the smallest change to their mindsets and behaviors it begins to add up and it ripples out. Modeling behavior gives others permission to think about different options for their lives and start feeling empowered to make shifts too. Not every revolution starts with a BANG, sometimes they start with self-awareness and small internal acts of kindness to ourselves. So recognize your own power and give yourself that five minute break when you need it.
