What Childhood Message Was Harmful to Your Creative Growth?

I’m reading through answers to this week’s Question of the Week “What childhood message was harmful to your creativity” and I’m noticing a theme.

So many of you are telling me that as children you learned to downplay your talent. 

Somehow I didn’t expect this. 

I expected I’d read some terrible messages: “Art isn’t as important as science.” “Your sister is the talented one.” “Art isn’t practical.”

I’m telling you these stories of you downplaying your talent has stopped me in my tracks!

What is this NEAR UNIVERSAL impulse to downplay our talent?  

I can tell you where I got it.

I think because I was obviously artistic, my teachers made a point to encourage other kids more than me. Certainly my teachers were well-intentioned. But I was smart enough to understand what they were doing. I internalized their message, joining them in downplaying my talent to make my classmates feel good about themselves.

Your stories have come in similar shades. You perceived real danger in standing out. You imagined your talent would lose you friends. You felt celebrated not for being great but for calling other people great. 

It seems we all chose connection over authenticity.

What I see in all of this is a grave mistake we are making with our children.

Children with artistic aptitude are by definition wildly sensitive and wildly smart. They need massive support to learn how to hold the heavy, beautiful, complex business of their artistry.  But it seems, as soon as they show aptitude we train them to reduce themselves. 

THIS WORLD NEEDS ARTISTS and yet we are sending our artists out into this world disabled.

Undermining themselves at every turn. 

Using their artistic talent to deflect their artistic talent.

So please, if you notice a child with artistic proclivities, don’t save your enthusiasm for everyone else.

Let’s resource our artists early and often for the long and winding road before them.