Creativity: it can get better with age
Alexis Bentz is a senior at Wootton High School in Rockville, Maryland. She has been writing this intergenerational column for the Beacon since middle school.
I’ve been writing about issues that impact both the older and younger generations for The Beacon for six years. But I’ve been a short story writer almost from the time I could hold a pen. My first story was about a butterfly who could travel around the world. Perhaps you wrote stories or painted pictures as a child, too.
Do we lose our spark of creativity as we age? Why should we strive to hold onto it? And how does creativity differ in older adults and teenagers?
As it turns out, it’s very possible — and highly beneficial — to stay creative throughout our lives.
In fact, in some ways an innovative mindset, which draws connections between disparate ideas, is ideally suited to the brains of young students and older adults. Both, for example, tend to be distractible, jumping from one idea to another.
The average teen is not known for his or her attentiveness, and older adults have “mild decreases in the ability to pay attention,” according to the National Institute on Aging.
But this can be a positive thing when it comes to creativity.
In addition, older people possess high levels of crystallized knowledge. Creative brains use such accumulated wisdom to produce novel ideas.
Better yet, older adults are often able to not only produce creative ideas but act on them.
“While children are great at exploration, they’re not always great at getting the job done or choosing the best solution for the situation at hand,” Elizabeth McClure, a research specialist at the LEGO Foundation’s Center for Creativity, Play, and Learning explains in her TED Talk.
Exercising creativity
Creative exercises may enhance our brains as we age. Engaging in artistic endeavors can alleviate boredom and keep the mind active.
Creative outlets can help preserve one’s body as well: Arts and crafts, for instance, help with hand-eye coordination, cognitive abilities and focus, among other things.
Meanwhile, for teenagers, creativity instills positivity, confidence and an appreciation for natural beauty. It challenges maturing individuals to approach problems with ingenuity, which will help them to produce innovative products as they enter the workforce, as well as unique solutions to the world’s problems.
A creative mindset prevents functional fixedness, or the tendency to only look at objects in a single, subjective way. And it encourages teens to remain open-minded, tolerant and respectful of others’ points of view.
Risk and creativity
But a rather surprising effect of creativity — one for both seniors and teens — is its tendency to prompt healthy risk-taking. This type of creative risk-taking could mean exploring ideas others may consider taboo through mediums such as literature or music, or perhaps designing an innovative new product.
Some of the world’s most creative minds, from Beyoncé to Mark Zuckerberg to J. K. Rowling, were bold and took risks in their various fields. It is only through risk-taking — pushing boundaries and going where no others have gone before — that the most beautiful and influential art can be created.
When taking risks, the brain is trained to think in unusual ways. So, creativity generates risk-taking and risk-taking generates creativity — another symbiotic relationship.
As T. S. Eliot wrote, “Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far it is possible to go.”
Sometimes the biggest risk is deciding to undertake a creative project; after all, self-doubt can be a powerful deterrent.
Perhaps you and some young friends or grandchildren can gather some watercolor paint, records or a sewing machine and create something innovative. Write a story, paint a mural or invent a new dance step — anything to get your creative juices flowing.
A creative exercise might inspire you to “think outside the box” in other areas of your life. Not only will you have a blast, but you may be inspired to produce something truly beautiful, and uniquely yours.
And while you’re creating a masterpiece together, you and your teenage friend or relative can encourage each other to never lose that creative spark.
The Beacon is encouraging its readers to explore their creative side through a competition for amateur artists. The Beacon’s Celebration of the Arts is underway now. Painting, sculpture, photographs and jewelry are among the seven categories of the competition.
See complete rules at thebeaconnewspapers.com/COTA2020 or see the ad on page 53 for more information.
