Do Something Creative Every Single Day

            I come from a school where I was taught to express yourself creatively every single day. Specifically, the director of my graduate program, Edmund Skellings, then Poet Laureate of Florida, told one of the poets in our program to write a poem each day. I took that advice and made it “do something artistic and express yourself every day”. It doesn’t have to be good. But you still have to commit yourself to being creative. In fact, dare to be creative. Don’t let the creative juices run dry. Just keep working at it. And so for nearly the past two decades, I’ve followed his advice, whether it be by writing (these very words count), taking a picture, shooting video, or video editing. It just has to be in an artistic medium. Journal writing is something easy that anyone can do every day. It’s expressing yourself. And by doing this activity, I’ve maintained my creative edge and have a large, vast back catalogue of creativity behind me. And it’s not all great. It doesn’t have to be. But there are some good nuggets in there that I am deeply proud of. It’s quite freeing to not force yourself to be “brilliant”. Just express yourself… and eventually something quite good, real, and true will come out.