Creative life means re-arranging all the pieces that come your way. Every circumstance, pleasant or challenging, is meant to activate something in you.

Lately, I’ve been thinking about a drawing class I took in junior high school. I remember feeling anxious about “not doing it right”. I had not drawn anything in a long time. I was also worried that the instructor would laugh at my basic skills. Still, I wanted to give it a try and feel as free as I did when I was a child.

One day, he doodled some random lines on blank sheets and handed them to each of us. Then, he said: “Draw something out of this. Let your imagination find the form.”

I thought that was brilliant. There were no rules and no expected outcomes. Just the freedom to deliver something unique.

Even though I doubted my skills, I loved the idea of re-arranging those lines in a way that worked out for me. It was liberating to be the one defining the form. In case you’re curious, this was my end result: a fish swimming in a pond. I wish I would have kept that drawing.

Years later, I still think of that particular exercise. Especially, when adversity shows up in my journey.

Back then, part of me wanted more lines, more shapes…something to make the process easier. It was uncomfortable to “figure it out” on my own. Now I realize what I was doing: resisting the “lack” of elements. Fighting the exercise itself. Once I embraced the challenge, I was able to make progress.

Creative living often asks us to do the same.

At any given point, life hands us unexpected events, detours or blank spaces. It invites us to re-arrange the pieces we’re handed. Some moments are joyful; others, test our resilience. Regardless, we, as creatives, have the power to transform them and turn them into an experience that helps us grow. At our own pace and in our own way.

So when an unforeseen situation arises, pause and ask yourself:

“How can I re-arrange this?”

“What could this be teaching me?”

“What shape wants to emerge from this moment?”

 

The answers may lead you somewhere you never expected. Maybe toward a new skill, a new strength, or a new perspective. Sometimes, the point is to discover more of yourself and more of what you’re capable of doing.

What’s something in your creative life that you can re-arrange today?