THE ROLE OF CREATIVITY IN SELF DEVELOPMENT

Abstract

Self-development is the process of consciously and actively bettering oneself through expanding knowledge, learning new skills, overcoming challenges, and fulfilling one’s potential over the course of a lifetime. This requires discovering one’s passions and strengths, setting aspirational goals, and engaging in experiences that facilitate personal growth. Creativity plays a pivotal role in enabling this continual growth and self-actualization journey. The urge to create is a fundamental human drive through which we can explore our identities, push our capabilities, find purpose and meaning, and lead more enriching lives. Research has shown strong links between engaging in creative activities and measurable improvements across indicators of psychological, cognitive and social wellbeing. As such, purposefully nurturing creativity should be considered a foundational element of self-development strategies. By honing our innate creative capacities through learning artistic skills, problem solving, and imaginative thinking, we can unlock opportunities for self-discovery, knowledge expansion, purpose actualization and life enrichment.