Why Do You Create?

I've seen the question, "Why so you write?" circle the internet a lot recently. Everyone has a different answer, if they're introspective enough to care. I'm going to broaden it to all types of creating, not just writing.

The question of "why" is as deep (or deeper) than the existential question of "how," and everyone struggles to answer it. Why am I here? Why do I have to do this? Why does the world work this way? Why do I do what I do?

We All Create

The heart of the matter, I believe, is the fact that we're made in God's image. We are clouded, warped mirrors of a perfectly creative Creator, whose creativity was such that He breathed the entire world into existence. From the law of physics to mathematics to color theory, everything was created from the mind of God. So, if our Creator creates constantly, should it not follow that we, too, create?

To follow that, I think everyone is a creator. Everyone creates. This is drastically different from my theory that everyone has a little writer in them. This is just a fact. Whether you're creating lesson plans like my mother, code like my father, crafts, writing, art, blueprints, spaceships, theories - the human nature is to create like our Creator. We are empty without Him - and in a shallower, more surface-level way, it's easy to feel empty when we forget to create. We aren't made just to consume. We're made to see, learn, appreciate, and then take what we see and know and use it to create. If all you're doing is consuming, you probably feel gross. Trapped, confused, like you're going in circles or have no purpose. Of course, if this is on a spiritual level, you need to pray or read the Bible. But if it's on an emotional or surface level, the fix is often to glorify your Creator by creating.

So everyone creates in their own way because we are made in the image of a beautiful Creator.

Why do I create?

This has a different answer depending on when you're asking me, so I'm going to answer a few different times.

It's All In My Head

"I write for the same reason I breathe—because if I didn't, I would die."

-Isaac Asimov

When I don't write for a while, I will get an actual headache. It's not exactly pain, but it's like my head feels heavy. Like there's too much inside of it, and I need to get some of it out. This especially happens when I have a specific scene I want to write, but I haven't had the time to do it yet. My brain is bursting at the seams until I get it out of my head. I'll probably revisit it a lot before it's all the way out of my head, rereading and making tiny edits. If I write periodically, the heavy feeling stays away. It's weird, but I think it makes a lot of sense with the Isaac Asimov quote above. I write like I breathe: naturally. Because I don't know what would replace it.

It's A Brain Break

This mostly applies to the other things I create, like crocheting and resin and jewelry making. When I go through one of those weeks where you're just jumping from one thing to the next with no time to rest, crafting and making things is like the way I put my brain back together. It slows me down enough to take a break. I get something really fun out of it at the end, and I get to know that I made it. I can process whatever's going on while I'm doing it. I can listen to a book, my Bible, music, or nothing, depending on how I'm feeling. I can do short projects that will take me ten minutes or spend three hours in my room on Sundays. I honestly don't know what other people do when they get that overwhelmed, but I make things. It doesn't take as much mental energy as writing, but it's a similar process with an outcome of something I handmade. It's a brain break.

I'm Sick

This one really just fits with the other two reasons. I'm not actually sick, but I tell people my brain is sick. We don't actually know what's wrong with me yet. I almost never feel well-rested, I get vertigo and hot flashes and my ears ring (among a long list of other random things). When I have flareups, it really starts to feel like the world is closing in on me, like I'll never be okay again. Creating is a bit of an escape from that. Making things helps me feel like I've actually gotten something done while enjoying it, and writing gets me out of my head. If nothing else, writing is predictable (in a way). I can control it, and when everything else feels out of control, it's the one place where I know what will happen.

So, that's why I write. It's natural, and I've done it since I figured out how. It's a break from everything going on. It's something predictable when my health flares up. But more than all of that, because I'm created as a reflection of a creative God, and I'm just wired that way.

Why do you write?