10 ways to know if you are a creative person (even when you think you’re not)

Imagine a world without creative people.

A world without books, movies, art, or music… 

It would be such a dull, boring world, don’t you think?

We enjoy life because of all these things, and we have creative people to thank for that. 

Think you might be one of them? Read on to learn the 10 ways to know if you are a creative person (even when you think you’re not)!

1) You’re curious

You want to know how things work. You’re interested in how authors write the most magical stories, and how artists paint the most magnificent art pieces. You’re fascinated by the wonder of it all. 

But how is curiosity related to creativity? 

Well, curiosity is the driving force behind creativity. Your desire to know how things work fuels the desire to create things. You want to know how magnificent pieces are created because you want to create a magnificent piece yourself. 

This is why curiosity is an important trait for creatives. If you’re not interested in how the world works, you can’t be interested in creating things, either. This kind of passion is what makes a creative person creative. 

2) You’re passionate

In a world full of nine-to-five desk jobs and excel worksheets, it can be easy to lose passion and live a lackluster life.

However, if you stay passionate despite all these—you might be a creative person.

Creative people are in love with life, even with its mundanity. They are in love with how coffee seems to taste best when they first drink it in the morning; with the way the old lady down the street feeds all the stray cats; with how their dog always lurches at them every time they come home after a long day’s work. 

Don’t let this kind of fiery passion die, because when it does, the desire to create dies along with it. 

3) You’re your own worst critic

Creatives tend to have high standards, especially for themselves. This can sometimes be damaging, because the standards they set can be unrealistically high. 

If you can relate with this, remember that while high standards are important in order to fuel the motivation to create, unrealistically high standards can be paralyzing. 

As a creative myself, I know this all too well. Even while writing this article, I find it hard to keep going because of the desire to write it perfectly. 

However, as creatives, we must not let our high standards paralyze us from creating. It is important to remind ourselves that at the end of the day, we’re still human, capable of making mistakes. Perfection is impossible to attain, and it is our very flaws that make our craft uniquely ours. 

After all, we don’t need to see perfection in order to find the beauty out of every little thing, do we? 

4) You find beauty out of every little thing

People usually think creatives, particularly artists, only like beautiful things.

But this is incredibly wrong. Creatives don’t only like beautiful things—they find beauty out of everything. 

Artists, in particular, don’t need an objectively beautiful thing to be inspired. Van Gogh himself created this painting of worn-out shoes, and probably not because it’s objectively beautiful—but because he, himself, found the beauty in it. 

This goes for other forms of art as well. We enjoy slice of life stories even if they can sometimes seem mundane, because we see the beauty out of the mundanity. 

For creatives, it is not unusual to love the mundanity of life. They enjoy observing it, often not actively participating, because they are wallflowers. 

5) You’re a wallflower

A lot of people enjoy life when they actively participate in it. However, a lot of creative people can enjoy it by just observing. 

Being a wallflower is about seeing the beauty in how things happen and how events unfold. You don’t have to participate in it to enjoy it—you just have to see. 

In Perks of Being a Wallflower Stephen Chbosky’s words, “[you’re] a wallflower. You see things. You keep quiet about them. And you understand.”

Isn’t it beautiful?

Well, as wallflowers, creative people also have a special love of stories. 

6) You love stories

As a creative person myself, I am passionate about stories, both real and fictional. I love hearing my friends tell me about their life experiences just as I love watching warriors fight on dragonback on screen. 

If you, too, have this kind of love for stories, it might be a sign that you’re a creative person. You know that all the greatest inventions and all the best works of art have a story to tell, and it is so important to recognize this if you’re a creative person. 

As a creator, if you don’t value stories, it makes your work lifeless; an empty husk of a creation. Art makes us feel good because it feels alive, which is so important for an aspiring creative person—such as yourself—to learn.

7) You dislike authority

Did you use to hate house chores because you’re constantly told to do them, but learn upon growing up that you actually enjoy doing them? 

If you answered yes, perhaps you’re a creative person!

Most people dislike being told what to do, but creative people especially hate it. This is because they like doing things out of their own volition, and this completely makes sense. 

Can you imagine working on a creative project just to be told—every single step of the way—what to do? As a creative person myself, that sounds absolutely hellish. 

For creative people, creative freedom is important, because it allows them to work on their craft as they see fit.

And creative people hate authority with a passion because they value creating their own experiences.

8) You value experiences, both old and new

If you value your life experiences and understand that we need to learn from the past in order to live the present to the fullest, you might be a creative person.

Creative people don’t value experiences because this is what they draw inspiration from. They have their imagination to thank for that. 

They value life experiences because they value the lessons they have learned from the past, and try to apply it in the future.

Artists understand the value of practicing to improve your art. Writers spend lots of their time reading to sharpen their writing skills. Inventors fail over and over again and turn their failures into learnings that can improve their future work. 

This is the essence of being creative. 

But even if you value your life experiences, you still acknowledge the importance of imagination.

9) You’re imaginative

Are you an imaginative person? If you are, you’re probably a creative person, too. 

A creative person is always full of new ideas. They are constantly itching to bring their brilliant ideas into reality, even if the execution part can sometimes be difficult. 

For creative people, these new ideas make life exciting. They live for that eureka! moment that happens when they finally get the idea they’re looking for.  

10) You understand the value of art and poetry

When I think about the importance of art and poetry, I think about that one quote from Dead Poets Society. It says: 

“Medicine, law, business, engineering, these are all noble pursuits, and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for.”

If you’re a creative person, you understand this completely. The value of art, unlike law, business, or engineering, is not in its functionality. Art is important because it is what we live for—and it’s what makes life worth living. 

Final thoughts

Creative people make life worthwhile. It’s their brilliant minds that brought us history’s greatest pieces of art. Sometimes, they don’t realize their creativity even after many years of life. 

I hope this article helps you learn if you are a creative person and jumpstarts your journey into unlocking your inner creative genius, because there’s always room for more creatives in our world. 

Did these creative traits resonate with you? Let us know in the comments!