Coloring the sun in blue, having the confidence to draw a person the size of a tree, daring to draw a person with three legs, Sounds a bit bold, right? And yet, that is what children do!

Children are endlessly creative and they create without second-guessing.

They trust themselves and go for that pink house!  

Children don’t worry about the end-result, and once they are done they are proud. Indeed, they are so proud to show their piece of art and when they show it to their parents, they enjoy every compliment they get.

In this article, I want to share with you how being creative can tremendously boost your self-confidence.

Spoiler: Actually, when you’re in the middle of the creative process, you already are that self-confident person you aspire to be!

 

1. You Learn Something New

When you practice an artistic activity, (learning how to draw, play an instrument, etc.) you learn new skills.

You learn new techniques. You learn new tricks.

You progress. You improve your craft. You expand your range of knowledge.

Acquiring new skills helps you build your self-esteem because it shows that you certainly have the ability to learn new things.

You realize that just because you weren’t born with a specific skill doesn’t mean that you can’t learn it.

It comes down to realizing that we are lifelong learners.

When you grow this mindset of learning any new skill you need, it truly boosts your self-confidence and you can achieve so much more.

Being on the outlook to always learn new things can really be a game-changer to continually develop and pursue new opportunities.

When you realize that anything can be learned, you consequently realize that nothing is beyond your reach.

It has personally been such a life-changing realization for me.

2. You Get Compliments from others

You are now done with your creation, and your family starts complimenting on your painting, your friend starts praising the last song you wrote.

How does it make you feel?

Hearing the positive feedback of others about your work is for sure incredibly rewarding!

Additionally,  it’s also an opportunity to show your true potential to the world, to put your skills under the spotlight.

To show others what you are able to do.

Believe me, getting compliments and being encouraged by your close friends can indeed boost your self-esteem.

So grab that opportunity to pump up your self-esteem!

Extra tip: silence negative self-talk!

Maybe some of you will at first be uncomfortable accepting compliments because you might think you don’t deserve them?

You might think that in the end, you didn’t create anything special.

You might even think they gave you compliments, but that they didn’t mean what they say, that they just said it just to be nice?

If you’re thinking this, just Pause for a second. And stop that negative-self-talk, my friend!

Try to genuinely accept the compliments as they come and, instead, let those praises make your day and improve your self-esteem.

3. You Trust Yourself

When you create something, you enter a process during which you instinctively trust your intuition.

You trust your inner voice.

In other words, you trust yourself.

It’s like you don’t have any limits, and nothing can restrict your creativity. Consequently, as nothing can block your creativity, you just let it flow.

For example, when you paint It’s like you go into a sort of trance where you allow yourself to totally trust yourself.

You don’t overthink the next shape you’re about to paint because there isn’t a right or wrong way your painting should look like. Because no one told you how your painting should look like.  

It can be just the way you envision it, freely and blindly trusting yourself along the process.

When you are in heart of the creative process you let loose, no matter if anyone else is going to see your creative piece or not. You go with the flow. You let go.  You don’t overthink.

You are caught in the flow where you can let yourself be.

Having bigger trust in yourself will automatically boost your self-confidence because you won’t be as hesitant to go for things.

You won’t be as afraid, asking dozens of opinions before acting.

When you dare to trust yourself, you become fearless.

4. You Get a Sense of Accomplishment

When you start an artistic project, you spend hours creating something unique.

In the process of learning and doing, you notice your progression right away and believe me,  that’s an instant confidence boost!

It’s very rewarding to witness your progress and growth, minutes after minutes.

Needless to mention the sense of accomplishment you also get once the project is complete.

You can finally reap the rewards of your own work after spending countless hours working on it, shaping it, polishing it, perfecting it.

Making it come alive.

That sense of accomplishment can truly boost your self-confidence since you get concrete proof you can lead a project from start to finish, all on your own.

That’s an achievement to be proud of!

[et_bloom_inline optin_id=”optin_8″]

5. You Stop Judging Yourself

When you’re in the middle of the creative process, creativity outpowers any element of self-judgment.

Indeed, no creation can come alive if you constantly allow judgmental thoughts to come in the way.

“Good” or “bad”, “right” or “wrong”, “great” or “ugly” are all elements of judgments you should leave behind if you want your creativity to flow.

In order to let your creation come alive, you need to keep going without letting any elements of judgment disturb your flow.

You need to block those elements of judgments for the creation to happen.

Otherwise, you seriously jeopardize and freeze your creativity.

In other words, when you’re in the middle of the creative process, you finally accept yourself, without judging.

The same way creativity encourages self-trust, creativity also pushes you to be less judgmental towards yourself.

You have to allow yourself to make the first draft, to give it a shot until you find what feels right.

You don’t blame yourself for trying several times.

You just allow your ideas to assert themselves.

Creating can boost your self-confidence because it enables to accept yourself and gives you permission to be who you are.

6. You Practice Self-Care

Additionally, when you take some time to practice a hobby, what you are really doing is devoting time for yourself.

Self-love and self-care are key elements in your journey to self-confidence.

By being able to put yourself as a priority in those moments, you acknowledge that you are worth doing something you enjoy. That you deserve it.

You realize that you do it not to please someone else nor to fit in.

You do it just because you allow yourself to do something you truly enjoy. Just for yourself. And this is so important!

It shows that you value yourself by paying attention to your needs.

That Me Time is absolutely essential towards building a healthy your self-esteem!

7. You Stop Comparing Yourself to Others

Another great thing about doing something creative is that you don’t tend to compare yourself to others during the process.

Why?

Because when it comes to creative activities, we acknowledge that in this case, it’s okay to be different.

As a result, you feel comfortable expressing yourself, which frees you from the idea of comparing yourself to others.  

What I love about artistic activities is that they truly encourage you to be yourself, unapologetically.

You know that being creative is – in essence –  about creating something different. You know that it’s not about copying or pretending to be someone else.

There’s no reason to compare yourself to others because you know each artist is unique and that there’s only one unique version of them.

That’s why we don’t fall into the trap of comparison as easily.

Consequently, you don’t feel as strongly that need to fit in.

How about applying this principle in your life in general, on daily basis?

Nowadays, we tend to compare jobs, wealth, cars and other material things… But what if you are is just enough?

What if being your own self is the thing to be valued the most?

Adopt the same thinking and attitude in your own life!

Create your life, your own unique life and understand that it doesn’t have to be like others’.

Be your own self and understand that there’s no need for comparison.

8. You Are Not Afraid of Making Mistakes

When you create something, you know it doesn’t have to be perfect because it’s art.

Therefore, you are not afraid of making mistakes.

You take a pencil with confidence, without wondering if it’s going to look right or wrong.

Because you know it doesn’t have to be perfect, that it doesn’t have to look a certain way. So you’re not afraid of “failing” per se.

In fact during the creative process, “mistakes” give room for perfecting. You know it’s part of the process.

You constantly try to polish your creation until you are satisfied with the way it looks.

When it doesn’t quite yet look like the way you want to, you don’t just give up and leave it that way.

Instead, you continue working on it. You keep going. Because you know your piece of art hasn’t reached its full potential yet. So you tweak and perfect it.

You acknowledge that constantly improving and refining your project is part of the process. Therefore, when it doesn’t look like yet the way you envisioned it, you don’t see it as a failure.

You don’t give up and you just keep on going.

A creative piece is an experiment, it’s done by trial and error until you are finally satisfied with the end result.

You keep going until you finally hit the spot!

So, why not adopt the same attitude in your daily life by changing your perspective?

In your daily life, whenever something appears as being a “failure”, try to change your perspective.

Try to see and treat it the same way you would treat your creation…

Recognize that not having something right at the first attempt is just part of the process.  

Maybe you can do something about that “failure”? Maybe you can repair the damage?

Maybe you can still save the day? Maybe you can work on it and turn that “mistake” into a success?

Just like your price of art, maybe your project hasn’t reached its full potential yet!

It justs needs a bit more adjustment and tweaking.

Failing is just a sign that you are progressing, that you are on the right path.

So It doesn’t mean you should give up. Quite the contrary!

Conclusion

Ok, now it’s time for the fun part, time to be creative!

As a conclusion, I suggest that you do the following exercise:

1. Pick your favorite art material:

• crayons
• markers
• colored pencils
• paint
• etc..

I will take paint as an example.

2. In order to get the best out of this exercise, it’s important that you do it being mindful

It’s important that you notice all the occasions when you allow your self-confidence to come through.

Get creative with the following mindset:

Try to reconnect with your inner child and let it all out… That’s the mindset you should practice this exercise in.

Reconnect with your inner child and remember how free he was to constantly create. Remember how wild his imagination was.

Remember that carefree feeling that wouldn’t stop him from playing, creating, saying things that didn’t make much sense!  

But that child was being unapologetically himself.

That child completely embraced who he was, without judging.

So try to reconnect with that feeling and loosen up. Let it go. Don’t overthink the next strike you’re about to paint. Just the let the brush glide.

Let the brush be an extension of your mind.

Paint freely.

If you make a “mistake”, don’t throw in the towel, don’t give up.

Recognize that It’s part of the process my friend, just accept it.

Continue to polish your creation, to embellish it, to tweak it until that “mistake” becomes the key element of your painting.

Keep going until “mistake” is transformed into a wow effect!

Give yourself permission to paint without any judgments coming in the way. Keep on painting, don’t judge, don’t wonder if it looks good or bad.

Have 100% trust in yourself. Follow your intuition, feel your hand instinctively moving towards the next color you’re about to use.

Enjoy the fact you can trust yourself 100%.

Enjoy the freedom of not overthinking. Feel it.

Do you feel how liberating it is? Great!

Admire your progress along the way. See your piece of art slowly coming to life. Be proud! Own it! It’s yours!

Enjoy the process.

Doing this exercise should make you feel more confident. It’s going to prove to you that you can trust yourself, that you can achieve amazing things.

I hope had fun being creative!

When you’re in the middle of the creative eprocess, what are the moments during which you feel the most self-confident? I’d love to hear it! Let me know in the comments section below. 🙂

[et_bloom_inline optin_id=”optin_8″]

Read Next…