Creative, Curious and All Things Comic…

Dear Diary,

Today, I’ll be discussing my creative mind yet not so creative hands.

Living with Dyspraxia, a coordination issue, my hand-eye coordination and fine motor skills have always been a barrier to getting all of my creative thoughts down on paper. The resulting product always ended up being too eclectic and quite random – almost as if expressed by a child! For years, I mistakenly believed that creativity and the likes could only be brought to life by professional artists, yet, how wrong I was!

Ned Hallowell puts it this way…

“Creativity is impulsivity gone right!”

I consider myself impulsive and by inferring on Hallowell’s words, I realized that the creativity I potentially had must’ve been hiding in the shadows from the start! All I needed to do was believe that I did have those abilities. I love this take on impulsivity, as it portrays the characteristic in good light. Rather than addressing the trait as a challenge or a symptom, perceiving it as a strength is a much more constructive way to go about it and something I could agree with all the way.

I went on to explore what would help me project the strength I had. Writing or journaling is not my cup of tea when it comes to expressing myself. So, in hopes of finding a better means of doing so, last year, I took to art therapy. To my surprise, creating art got me hooked! Once I unleashed what I wanted to convey and my curiosity got the better of me, impulsivity took over just like Hallowell had described! Thus, was born,

Indie’s Diaries Comic

Through creating comics, I am finally able to express myself in a unique style that allows me to convey my thoughts without having to write them down – a huge plus point for me. So, in the upcoming months, you’d be seeing a lot of what I create. Do keep in mind that the purpose for making these comics is solely to express ideas and not achieve any sort of perfectionism, whatsoever. It’s just my way of feeding my inner curiosity and creativity.

This brings me to the next part I want to touch on – if creativity is not necessarily just art, how exactly can we creatively execute our ideas?

According to the American Scientific Journal, there are three aspects of creativity in recognition and concerning ADHD: divergent thinking, conceptual expansion and overcoming of knowledge constraints. For more information, visit:

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-creativity-of-adh d/

By putting my twist to it, here are some pointers I have gathered on how you could utilize your ADHD brain in a creative manner:

Embrace it, don’t fight it. Perceive your ADHD brain as a strength rather than a weakness. Giving yourself the freedom to express ideas in whichever way you choose is the first step.
Creative flow time. Allow yourself free flow time to let your creative juices flow and accomplish anything comes to mind! This is what I refer to as “ADHD time.”
Discover your preferred style of expression. Various mediums can help you externalise your inner thinking. For example, how you feel most comfortable expressing ideas could be visual- or performance-based.
See the bigger picture. Examine concepts from a wider angle. This allows you to test the boundaries and push beyond the limits.
Making connections. Analyse new knowledge and see how you could connect dots to prior learnings. You could use graphics or verbal processing to link ideas.
Imagination activities. Use your vast imagination to bring your world into life in your mind. I call mine my “Emotional safe place”. This can be a place where you’re free to be whoever and encourage creative ideas.
Invent your approaches. Create your own method of doing things. One of my core values in life is doing things my way, especially, if a traditional method does not work out in my favour. In these situations, I feel that coming up with my own, alternate strategy is beneficial.
Thinking outside the box. Do not restrict yourself when it comes to executing your creative ideas. Bring your ideas to life however you want to, be it, through paper, videos, podcasts, verbalising, art, etc. The sky is the limit!
Problem-solving. Several approaches can be used to tackle problems. When faced with one, I employ different methods to resolve it. Because I am always bursting at the seams with ideas, I enjoy brainstorming and putting them down on paper. Give it a go!
Be curious. Let curiosity take over. I intentionally try to be curious about things so that I can keep learning more.

Hopefully, these ideas can assist you in making the most of your impulsivity and staying inspired. Let these examples be a guide for you to come up with innovative ideas and generate something positive. For starters, my creativity allowed me to create Indie!

Remember that creativity originates in the mind and can be expressed however you choose.

Goodbye for now and stay tuned!