What about the fun?

Here’s my invitation to you, and to myself, today: Release yourself fully from the constraints of “professionalism” and dare to consider what might be a bigger, bolder vision of creativity and leadership waiting for you.

Ooof, that’s quite the ask, I know.

I believe we need to connect to our sense of “play” and creativity in the global development and international philanthropy sector for a few reasons:

  • Old ways aren’t working. In fact they are harmful. We need radical, new, practical ideas of how to enact solidarity and transform systems. (Not dream-y, vision-y, utopian ideals but concrete shifts in our ways of working.)
  • In a sector obsessed(!) with innovation, we do very little to actually cultivate new ways of thinking or developing our own capacities. We rarely practice working within any limitations save “budget amounts.”
  • Art-making (of all kinds) stretches us, prepares us for taking risks and new experiences, and ups our tolerance for ambiguity and uncertainty. It acknowledges our broken idealistic hearts, our confusion and loss – all while grounding us in what is possible – right here in our own bodies, with our own hands and feet and minds.
  • We are staying too much in our heads. We are putting ourselves at a disadvantage when it comes to influence. We don’t have to abandon our intellect to make change, but we do have to realize that it’s not sufficient. We need:
    • Head: think, compare, learning, ideas, principles, theories, concepts, criticism, rationale
    • Heart: feel, caring, empathy, emotions, vulnerability, pain, presence, expression
    • Hands: willingness, acting, doing, resistance, planning, mobilizing
  • Our sector is constantly gaslighting us. Creativity invites us to connect to our own truths.
  • We have to feed and sustain our own will to carry on – making meaning of our experiences builds resiliency to keep going and sharing all of our gifts.
  • Every single one of us is creative – it’s related to our very life force, and it’s in all of us. Creative acts (of all kinds) reminds us of our connection to each other – to show up with a heart of peace – and inspires others that they can show up as their whole selves.
  • Creativity frees us from the imposed mental models and constraints installed by family, religion, culture and society.
  • It builds our empathy muscle – which is vital if we want to influence anyone else. Reminding ourselves of our own humanity, fallibility, vulnerability reminds us of everyone else’s as well. Offering care and building connection are important and undervalued ways to help usher in change.

And maybe most importantly…it’s fun! Perhaps we could benefit from not taking ourselves so damn seriously all the time. So let’s play! 

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