100 Day Creative Challenge Day 52: You Are Talented
Sometimes I think we believe that to be talented means to be on TV or on stage or in print. Success is not measured purely on public profile. Neither is talent.
I’ve worked with hundreds of people over the last thirty years as a teacher and mentor. I can honestly say that each person has something unique they bring to the world. It is not dependent on education, or ability or disability, looks, religion, race, gender or politics. Each person has something creative in them that can be nurtured.
More often than not, people are more than happy to tell you what they can’t do or what they aren’t good at. ‘I’m not talented,’ is a common statement people make about themselves.
Uncovering your talent is a fun process. Sometimes it takes a while. Elizabeth Gilbert talked about following your curiosity on a recent episode of Super Soul Sunday. Some of us find our passion or talent very early in life, but most of us spend years following our curiosity and trying to pinpoint what we are good at.
I am not great at dance, but I tried a Zumba class. My drawing is infantile, but I flirted with colouring books. My hand skills are poor, but I took up knitting lessons. None of these were successful. No one would call me talented in any of these, but I know several people who are very skilled. Jen runs an amazing dance academy and moves like Beyoncé. Kayleen West is an illustrator extraordinaire and her artwork is beautiful. My friend Vicki Johnston took up botanic art in later life and completed a Diploma with the Society of Botanical Artists and exhibited her work in London. I have several friends who knit, but my friend Amanda Viviers is not only a knitter, she runs a creative business, is an author, speaker, magnificent mum and much more. When I look at these friends, and many others, I know that acknowledging their talent and the extent of it, is a humbling thing for them. But when I see them I am blown away by how talented they are.
When I talk to people who come to me for mentoring in their writing journey and they tell me they are not sure they have what it takes to be a writer, I often and think like Julia Cameron, ‘My God, how could they not have known they were talented? How could they not have known?’
I think back to teaching high school drama to students who did not believe they could ever perform on stage, build a set, design costumes, choreograph dance and so on and how I would often tell them, ‘You have the talent. You just haven’t tapped into it yet.’
What talent is lurking in you? What talent haven’t you allowed to come out and play? You are talented. You just haven’t tapped into it yet.
My work unblocks people, and then I look at the work that they do, and I think, ‘My God, how could they not have known they were talented? How could they not have known?’
