We boomer-seniors are defined by not slowing down, instead by gearing up for more adventures to come. That means we need to refine and use one major quality of a great enriched boomer-senior life: being creative.
What is Creativity?
Readers of this blog know that creativity can be anything from baking bread to fly fishing to practicing that piano you had tucked in the corner to hold up family photos. But creativity has a huge list of characteristics that scholars have defined over the years and it is worthwhile going through all of them. Or at least, as many of them as we can fit on the page!
- Flexibility
- Originality
- Sensitivity
- Awareness
- Energy
- Curiosity
- Risk taking and problem solving
- Positive Attitude
- Motivation and determination
- Resilience
- Happiness
Read the list and you’ll agree that creativity is a central element of the way to live as boomer-seniors. Also readers of my blog will quickly identify these with another key theme I’ve addressed – brain health. For example, being flexible uses brain muscles. Doing rote things does not. Being original uses brain muscles. Doing the same-old-same-old does not.
Boomer-senior characteristics
These are characteristics that our generation – the famed baby boomers – have and can use that are so different from previous generations. Older retired generations relished the comfort of same-old-same-old. Older generations did not want to take risks, did not want to have to be aware of what is going on in the world or of creativity itself. They did not want to be motivated to try new or do new.
These are all reasons that we boome-seniors are unlikely to respond to messages the same way our parents did. We are unlikely to want the same type of lifestyle they did. Boomer-seniors want things to be a little challenging, to test our resilience and our ability to solve problems. We like that. And we’re just getting warmed up. Because we have so much to do as boomer-seniors, the day isn’t long enough.
When you look at that list above, it doesn’t include or exclude any particular type of creative outlet. As long as you are using these skills and flexibing these muscles, you are being creative. But there are also distinct ways to practice creativity every day. In fact, these are conscious ways of practicing – using our brains – to live a creative life.
Let’s Explore the Art of Creativity
- First, we need to be willing to encounter things we do not know, to explore new ideas, to be open to new ways of thinking. For example, I never really liked certain types of cuisine or foods. Our parents’ generation of seniors would have stuck with the same meat and potatoes. Now at our age, we are going to encounter the new and diverse that we never got to enjoy earlier in our lives, and find out what we really DO like and why.
- Second, we are doers, and we are going to apply that doing skill to creativity. Taking on something new, ideally. But, also practicing what we know is creative. Whether it is a beloved craft, cooking new foods, trying new wines, traveling to new places and staying off the beaten track – these are all aspects of creative doing. Because they are SO important: exercising our brain cells. Creativity, remember, is like a muscle. Because creativity boosts cognition. And thus, if we want to live good, healthy, long boomer-senior lives, we need to exercise that muscle and keep at it.
- Thirdly, Sharing creativity means we have to be able to practice it, do it, or experience it, plus share it. It is talking about that concert and forming an opinion after the fact. It is doing things with others – sharing an experience and the wonder of it. In fact, sharing creativity leads directly to happiness. It requires that we are curious enough, and have enough positive attitude and sense of risk taking to be able to share an experience. It builds on everything else.
- Responding to creativity is such fun. Because, that is consciously reacting, thinking, evaluating, choosing, debating – all the skills we honed as creatives in our working years. Responding is centered on and grows from curiosity. It is awareness. It requires energy. It teaches sensitivity.
Now that We Know What It Is, How Do We Get Started?
- For example, try that new cuisine. And if you don’t like it, figure out why and try something different the next time. That’s practicing resiliency.
- In the same way, for a whole month, make something different for dinner every single night. Don’t repeat. Don’t fall back on the same five menus. Because that’s creative problem solving as well as curiosity – figuring out what to make that is new and challenging.
- Similarly, practice a craft, an art, a creative outlet. But for instance, don’t focus on being a master at it, but on the doing. Make that table you’ve been thinking about in woodworking. Make the bread. Practice the piano. Paint a watercolor. Or, for example, take something apart and put it back together. Write that book on your Aunt Margaret. Make mistakes. Be messy.
- Encounter creativity. Get thyself to a museum, a quilt show, a makers exhibit. Again, wander galleries looking at things you don’t know if you like or not and figure out why. Go to live entertainment and encounter it enough to form opinions. Travel to where you don’t speak the language and absorb the architectural history. For instance, encounter art in a well-laid-out garden and figure out how it works. Even, in my case, fly fish, and focus on the process rather than the outcome.
- For example, get together with others – spouse, friends, family, neighbors. But,rather than talking about the same old, share your creative experience and coax them to talk about their creative experience. “You tried a cabernet with fish? Why? How did it work out?” It isn’t hard, and the discussion helps your friend or spouse or whomever exercise their creative muscles as well.
I call this practicing conscious creativity. Basically, use the creative muscles you developed so well throughout your life.
Take Action
Creativity is not a contest. It is not about winning the prize for the best whatever. Therefore, don’t be afraid of failing. Don’t worry that others will think your exercise in creativity is “wrong.” Who cares if the recipes didn’t work out? You’ll continue to experiment. You’ll continue to be creative. That’s what being a boomer-senior is all about. Enjoy!
— Morningmountainview
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