I know I’m late to the game, but right now I’m about half-way through Elizabeth Gilbert’s Big Magic (affiliate link)—and I’m loving what she has to say about creativity, authentic living, and not taking ourselves—and our art—too seriously.

I’ve also recently become obsessed, you might say, with reading about the Enneagram, and I am 90% positive that I’m a type 6, which explains so much about the way I think and function.

Anyway, both of these recent discoveries catalyzed the thoughts behind today’s post.

Give Yourself Permission

Like most type 6 folks, I have this thing with authority. I don’t necessarily mean “authority” in the traditional sense, but more so that I tend to question my own expertise.

For whatever reasons, I am motivated quite often by fear—or anxiety—and I often feel as if I lack the necessary skills or insight to orchestrate my own life.

Enter my frequent yearnings for some outside authority—be it a personality theory (you see what I’m doing there, right?), my husband, a self-help book, my close friends, a dozen random people on the internet, or my therapist—to assure me that I’m not a complete f*** up and maybe doing a couple of things right.

I need to work on this—on being my own authority and giving myself permission to live, act, think, feel, create, nurture, parent, and breathe in a way that is intuitive and free.

In Big Magic, Elizabeth Gilbert talks a lot about giving ourselves permission to do the thing we love—simply for the sake of doing it.

She believes that all humans are innately creative, and we bring our visions to fruition by focusing on the joy of creating, the act of sharing, deep gratitude for our gifts, and true graciousness toward our “divine” inspiration.

Though she’s a highly accomplished author, she acknowledges that the ultimate goal of art—be it creative writing, painting, photography, performance—isn’t success (at least not in the traditional sense); the goal is to say “thank you, inspiration, for picking me to carry out your work” and to enjoy the process wholly and without regret or apology.

That’s amazing, right?

I’ve had trouble taking myself seriously as a writer because, as of today, I’ve never done any paid freelance work. Any articles I’ve had published in other media have been solely for sharing my voice and throwing my name out there. (Side note: you can find a list of my other work on my contact page.)

So am I a writer?

Am I a creator because I haphazardly splatter paint on cheap canvases or take a bunch of mediocre photographs and attach some witty sayings or emotional reflections to them for others to “like” or share?

The doubter and the authority-seeker within me emphatically says “no,” but the creator, the collector and purveyor of “big magic” deep within my soul says “absolutely yes!”

And I think that’s how we all should feel. About our art and any other part of life.

So…trust your authority and give yourself permission.

Permit yourself to create—whether your art is lowbrow or highbrow, messy or refined, hung on your mom’s living room wall or displayed at the National Gallery—it’s yours to share.

Permit yourself to feel. Your thoughts and reactions may not accurately reflect the facts of a given situation, but your feelings are 100% valid. Make no apologies for having them and allowing them their rightful place.

Permit yourself to take chances. And to say no. And to say yes!

Permit yourself to let others take care of you. Permit yourself to make boundaries. Permit yourself to stand firm in your convictions. Permit yourself to cry and be vulnerable.

Give yourself permission to be yourself—to be wholehearted, unapologetic, irreplaceable, unfiltered, wonderful YOU.

Just like creative inspiration, YOU are a gift to this world.

Be your own authority. Give yourself permission! #BigMagic #Enneagram Share on X

[linking up with Amanda for thinking out loud]

So tell me…

• Have you read Big Magic? If so, what insight stood out to you?
• If you’re familiar with the Enneagram, what’s your type?
• What does creativity mean to you?