The B's of being Creative

                                                This is what it means to be creative.

This is what it means to be creative in the mind of a teenager.

     We desire to fit in as we enter highs school. There are a variety of expectations. There are labels galore. Teens are developing and want to discover themselves. This is where judging becomes its finest. Expectations are set higher than ever. Teens compete to become the best.

       
      When starting high school, teens are often lost. They do not know what to expect, and have many trials they face. More than half of teenagers enter high school feeling peer pressure to blend in and find a destined clique. Everyone wants to be understood.

I can agree to this. As a transfer student freshmen year, I wanted to know that I would be accepted. There was a little fear of who I would be and who I would become.

In Self-Reliance Emerson objects to this."It is easy in the world to live after the world’s opinion; it is easy in solitude to live after our own; but the great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude.” In other words, Emerson states that individuals should refrain from being following sheep. It is easy to follow into peer pressure, but a leader is someone who will go against the crowd. Do not be a sheep. This is the idea of being nonconformist.

Speaking of an outspoken leader, take this situation:

A teacher asks their students to interpret what they think a complex abstract painting is saying. There is complete silence, yet most students have a perspective of what they think the significant meaning to the painting is. After a long and awkward pause, one student speaks up. Suddenly, the class is not so quiet anymore. Students start to express their thoughts. The main issue is that it took one student to break the lingering silence.

Emerson declares, “We but half express ourselves. And are ashamed of that divine idea which each of us represents". We dissemble our creativity which puts up barriers and can discolor our world. We fear of being misunderstood.

Who doesn't want to be understood?

     Emerson objects to this as he surmises, "To be great is to be misunderstood". We seem to be lacking confidence as we depend on others. Many of us are ashamed to share our ideas and fear of being judged. Yet, when someone shares that one brilliant idea we had, we regret concealing it. We need to learn to conquer fears and trust ourselves.
       
                            The man shows that he has trust in himself as he conquers an obstacle.

     Emerson reveals, "the other terror that scares us from self-trust is our consistency; a reverence for our past act or word because the eyes of others have no other data for computing our orbit than our past acts, and we are loth to disappoint them." As teenagers, we are utterly consistent. We wake up to a blaring alarm, drag ourselves out of bed, and slowly putone foot in front of the other as we go to school, sports, then come home.  The idea is presented in the Beatles’s Across the Universe:

The lyrics are repetitive. ‘Nothing’s going to change my world’  sums up the life of a teenager. We are so used to a consistent schedule that many factors are missing from our daily routines. Yet as high school students begin to mature, they want to jump to college. All I thought about sophomore  year and the beginning of Junior year was  college and how I could not wait to go. However, I learned that I needed to adjust my daily schedule to make the most of these years. Instead of being consistent and wanting to skip steps, I found ways to spruce up my day. i made simple changes such as my morning routine and managing my time for the significant occurrences in my life and just time to think.

When starting high school, being a non-conformist can be difficult. However, as we get older and advance into high school, we should be successful by revealing our inner creativity in the work we do.