The Creative Crone Renaissance – Return to play

We began our lives as scientists and artists, exploring our world and engaging in play. Then school prepared us for that long stretch of years when we worked, cared for others, and kept our home life going. While some of us found creative careers, most of us tamped down our passion to create for decades. All that can change with a creative Renaissance in our sixties.

Why Create in Our Sixties?

Why is it beneficial to return to creativity? Because being creative is natural to humans. We thrive on it. Thinking outside the box invigorates our brains. We engage with multiple neural pathways that lie fallow when we focus on logic. Plus, creative pursuits reduce stress, whether we engage in music, visual arts, writing, or dance. And, too, creating gives us more energy, more enthusiasm, as we find novel ways to solve creative problems, whether we make jewelry or structure the plot of a story.

As we create new things we also generate our own sense of purpose. When we are in flow, there is neither time nor reason to question why we are here. Creativity is a force within each of us that adds to the vibrancy of everyday life.

Research shows that being creative also helps us live longer, healthier, happier lives. And when we are creative through movement, as when we dance, we gain the benefits of both movement and creativity.

Creativity also encourages social engagement—another way to enhance healthspan and lifespan. Writing groups, artist collectives, or just gathering in the hot tub at the gym after dance class are all ways to connect with people with similar creative passions.

Can We Be Creative Later in Life? (Hint: Yes!)

You may have heard that creativity is only for the young. That is a misimpression that newer research is debunking. Harvard Professor Shelley Carson wrote in Psychology Today that brain development in our later years make us more suited to creative endeavors. Our brains become less inhibited and more likely to form connections among disparate ideas, which is the basis of creativity. We have a broader scope of attention that is similar to that of highly creative people. And, of course, we have a wealth of experience to draw upon during our creative process.

Where to Start?

How to renew your creativity? First, remember that creativity is play, and remind your Inner Critic that there is no right or wrong about play. Doing what we enjoy is goalless.  Failing at something new is a big win. Reassure your Inner Critic she will be consulted if you decide to sell a painting or publish a story.

• Doodle: Begin with the easiest thing: Grab a pen and doodle. Doodling engages a different part of the brain that triggers your creativity. If you’d like, combine doodling with brainstorming and list kinds of creative play you enjoyed as a young child, or during stolen moments in your adulthood.
• Write: Next, try writing anything. Start with a daily writing prompt from a journal or sign up for prompts on a website. Buy a copy of Writing Open the Mind by Andy Couturier and try his mind-blowing prompts. Or put a pen and notebook at your bedside and write down your dreams first thing in the morning. You’ll be surprised how much you remember after you’ve done this for a few days!
• Do Something Different: Travel to a new place. Dance in your living room. Take a class. Try a new cuisine. Buy a new sex toy. Read a book in a genre you typically avoid. Novelty is the spark for creativity.

What Next?

Try one or more of these avenues as you continue to explore.

• Julia Cameron’s books: Julia has written forty books fostering creativity. Her book, It’s Never Too Late to Begin Again, focuses on creativity in later life. The book includes a twelve week program designed to reconnect us with our creative lives, using exercises around a series of themes including Wonder, Freedom, Purpose and Joy. For example, in one exercise she asks her readers to write this prompt five times and then complete the sentence each time:

If it weren’t too late, I’d…

Because (spoiler alert) it isn’t too late at all. Our sixties are the exact right time to engage with our dreams and begin something new—or better yet, try several new things and decide which ones to pursue.

(And by the way, after writing forty books Julia Cameron still has an active Inner Critic she’s named Nigel, whom she greets with, “Hello, Nigel! What don’t you like this time?”)

• Osher Lifelong Learning Institute: Sign up for a class that aligns with the creative interests you listed while you doodled. Drawing, painting, photography, memoir writing, poetry—it’s all there for you to explore. Or sign up for a local class at your bead shop or adult school.
• Spicy Writing: Writing either Romance or Erotica is a fun and liberating way to celebrate our vivid lives. Check out one of my books: Write & Sell a Well-Seasoned Romance, or Aphrodite’s Pen, for prompts and inspiration.

These are just a few of the many ways to give ourselves the gifts of creativity in our sixties and beyond. Because so many of us are blessed with long lives and growing freedom, we can return to the creative play we enjoyed as children or try new adventures in imagination. We are once again scientists and artists, ready for a creative Renaissance.