You live a routine of constant appeal.

With societal standards as they are now, and the economy in the state that it has been for so long, it is almost impossible to not be stuck in the routineness of life. Go to school, work part time, get a nine to five, retire, and die. That’s how life is structured and meant to work, not that it’s something I necessarily believe.

However, I want to consider the implication of living in that routine. When is there ever a long period of time where you make your own decisions, and don’t just do what somebody tells you to do? They tell you that the adult world is full of making decisions – and it is – but how many of those decisions are creatively driven? How many of those decisions make breakthroughs where society absolutely needs them?

Society creates a problem for creativity. Case in point, the concept of conformity, which is when members of our society look at other people and feel the pressure of the majority, so they let it change their overall opinion. The very concept is fickle; switching from opinion to opinion because your own cannot be formed, but it’s how society wants to work. Imagine a hivemind, where the majority opinion always has the most merit, so much so that it drowns out any possibility for anything different. A loud orchestra that overpowers a lone trumpet player. The sound of a rushing waterfall that silences even the voice in your head.

Now, creativity comes from individual thinking. From being able to decide what is going, and with social media making mass conformity even more widespread and available. When everyone is being fed the same ideas over and over again, it becomes difficult to think outside the box. Suddenly, the collective becomes encapsulating, and narrow minded. It’s important to note, too, that creativity is not just the process of making art, but the process of innovation, and yet, the concept is treated as if it’s expendable.

Being a kid is special, not because they don’t have to do taxes, but because their minds are so imaginative and ideas so profound that they think of the wildest things that can still sometimes prove true and good. Their innovativeness is fresh, and brings reason, when the only reason that becomes available is the one that is told to you.

So, hold onto creativity, and learn what inspires you. I can’t tell you how to be inspired. I can’t tell you how to form your own opinions. However, it’s important to not let growing up limit you to a routine life where you have no room for creative thoughts, and it’s important that you remember your own individuality. You have the power to form your own opinions, at any place and any time!