Happy National Creativity Day!
The Couldas + The Shouldas + The Wouldas
While officially established in 2018, National Creativity Day feels like something many of us have been celebrating in spirit long before it had a name.
Whether you’re a daydreamer or a doer, a doodler or a builder, a maker or a shaker, if you have ever felt the urge to bring something into the world that didn’t exist before, congratulations. You’re a card-carrying member of The Creativity Club.
In other words, today is for me, for you, and for a whole lot of us.
But let me be clear: Creativity doesn’t always show up to the party with confetti and kazoos. Today is more of a BYOB and DIY kind of celebration.
Sometimes, creativity shows up with a suitcase full of emotional baggage—namely, The Couldas, The Shouldas, and The Wouldas. What a bunch of partypoopers.
If you’ve ever said (or had said to you):
“I coulda done more if I had the time.”
“I shoulda started this project sooner.”
“I woulda finished it, but life got in the way.”
…you are not alone.
Creativity isn’t a straight line. It’s a zig-zagging, messy loop. The Circle of Life.
Creativity doesn’t always follow the rules—or schedules. Deadlines don’t work for many creatives or every creative project. Sometimes, creativity hides behind fear, insecurity, and/or perfectionism.
So today, on National Creativity Day, let’s give ourselves permission to make peace with the mess of it all. And give ourselves permission to make a piece of art instead.
Let’s celebrate the sketches, the half-written drafts, and the works-in-progress.
Let’s embrace (and protect) the wild ideas that haven’t found their final form.
Let’s honor the starts as much as the finishes.
Let’s remember that sometimes the most creative thing we can do is just…keep going. Even if we’re slow, even if we're unclear, even if we have no idea where we’re headed or when we’ll get there.
For me, creativity is more about the journey than the race—more about quality than quantity. That’s why I tend to create alone, and primarily for myself. I already bring plenty of great expectations (and professional procrastinations) to the table without any outside influence or pressure.
If you're carrying so many Shouldas, Couldas, and Wouldas that it's hard to breathe, maybe today’s the day to let them go—or at least ignore them for a while.
Or better yet, try channeling all that angst and anxiety into creating something new. Something by and for you.
Creativity isn’t just about making masterpieces. It’s about making space. For yourself. For your voice. For your vision.
Happy National Creativity Day, y’all...now go make something!
Clint 🌈✌️
P.S. What’s something you’ve always wanted to create, but haven’t yet?
Today’s a good day to get started. Just saying. 🏴☠️🥰
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Thank you. Yes, YOU, boo!
FOR YOUR (SUBSTACK) CONSIDERATION
ON THIS DAY = MAY 30
BIRTHDAYS
1846 = Peter Carl Fabergé = Russian goldsmith and jeweler
1896 = Howard Hawks = American filmmaker
1899 = Irving Thalberg = American screenwriter and producer
1903 = Countee Cullen = American poet and author 🌈
1908 = Mel Blanc = American voice actor
1909 = Benny Goodman = American songwriter and bandleader
1918 = Bob Evans = American businessman and Bob Evans Restaurants founder
1926 = Christine Jorgensen = American actor and singer 🌈
1927 = Clint Walker = American actor and singer
1928 = Agnès Varda = Belgian-French filmmaker
1930 = Robert Ryman = American painter
1939 = Michael J. Pollard = American actor
1950 = Bertrand Delanoë = French politician and former Mayor of Paris 🌈
1951 = Stephen Tobolowsky = American actor, singer, and director
1958 = Ted McGinley = American actor
1964 = Wynonna Judd = American singer-songwriter
1971 = Duncan Jones = English filmmaker
1971 = Idina Menzel = American singer-songwriter and actor
1975 = CeeLo Green = American singer-songwriter
1981 = Remy Ma = American rapper
EVENTS
1631 = Publication of Gazette de France, the first French newspaper.
1806 = Future U.S. President Andrew Jackson kills Charles Dickinson in a duel.
1899 = Pearl Hart, a female outlaw of the Old West, robs a stagecoach outside of Globe, Arizona.
1911 = At the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the first Indianapolis 500 ends with Ray Harroun in his Marmon Wasp becoming the first winner of the 500-mile auto race.
1922 = The Lincoln Memorial is dedicated in Washington, D.C.
1980 = After winning a landmark lawsuit (Fricke v. Lynch) against his high school, Aaron Fricke takes Paul Guilbert to his senior prom.
1986 = Perry Ellis dies of AIDS-related complications at the age of 46.
HOLIDAYS + OBSERVANCES
PORTRAIT + MORE OF THE DAY
“I have a rendezvous with life.”
Countee Cullen
“So in the dark we hide the heart that bleeds,
And wait, and tend our agonizing seeds.”
Countee Cullen
This is such a vibrant, truth-soaked celebration, Clint—thank you for putting language to both the joy and the jaggedness of creative living. I smiled at your party metaphor (BYOB and DIY? So real), and then felt that familiar tug in the chest when the Shouldas, Couldas, and Wouldas crashed the scene. Been there. Might still be hosting them.
I especially loved this: “Creativity isn’t just about making masterpieces. It’s about making space.” Yes. Sometimes that space is tiny—a breath between doubts. Sometimes it’s an entire afternoon that wasn’t claimed by productivity or perfection. For me, it’s often the quiet refusal to abandon something just because I don’t yet know what it wants to become.
So here’s to the fragments, the unfinished, the deeply personal—and to the courage it takes to keep going, even slowly. Even messily. Even now.
Thanks for the invitation. I’m accepting it—with ink-stained hands and an open heart.
So true, Clint! I have had to battle the shouldas so much over the years and people should know the internal mental resistance never stops but we learn strategies to conquer and overcome so we can keep creating. Thanks for this welcome reminder.
and thanks for the QLP shout out!