The Cure for Creative Insecurity

If you create anything (this can vary all the way from paintings that cost more than my yearly salary and ideas for the business you’re managing to choreography and even school curriculum), chances are that you have experienced self-doubt or insecurity. Maybe you have second-guessed your idea when someone didn’t love it as much as you. Or maybe you have kept ideas to yourself due to fear that your creative masterpiece might be rejected.

The truth is that a lot of us struggle to love each other well, and because of that, we all suffer. Here’s what the Bible says about love:

“Love is large and incredibly patient. Love is gentle and consistently kind to all. It refuses to be jealous when blessing comes to someone else. Love does not brag about one’s achievements nor inflate its own importance” (1 Cor. 13:4, TPT).

You don’t even have to be a Christian to know this chapter of the Bible. We read it at weddings, funerals, and even random events. It’s a Scripture we reference often, but living it out is much harder than reading it out loud. It calls us to live up to the standard Jesus set. It’s not a low standard!

You’re probably wondering what love has to do with curing your creative insecurity. The answer is that it is the cure. Love is not concerned with oneself but more concerned with others. Simply put, our goal is to continuously put aside our own needs for affirmation and put our focus on others. This cures our creative insecurity in two prominent ways.

First, loving others enough to put yourself aside means that you don’t care how ridiculously vulnerable it is to put your ideas out there. You understand that your ideas come from the Creator of the universe and that they were given to you so that you could share them with the world.

You realize that your painting combined with the power of God might release someone out of depression. The business idea you have might create jobs for homeless people who are begging God to open a door for them. That book you’ve been trying to find the courage to write just might be the final step in someone’s salvation story.

“Love doesn’t brag about or inflate its own importance.” When we realize that our creativity isn’t about us, we are free to love God and others enough to release our creative genius without hesitation. Everything points back to Him and not us. Therefore, we have nothing to lose when it comes to sharing our creativity with the world around us.

Secondly, loving others means that we are not jealous of anyone else’s achievements. Instead, we encourage one another in the creative process. “So speak encouraging words to one another. Build up hope so you’ll all be together in this, no one left out, no one left behind” (1 Thess. 5:11, MSG). This verse refers to the end times in general, but I don’t believe it is out of context to take this verse and apply it to our everyday creative endeavors. There is so much power in the way we speak to each other. In fact, we can speak life or death to each other’s creativity (Prov. 18:21).

When we filter everything through love, through the eyes of our Father, we can appreciate His creativity inside of each of His children. We don’t have to compete because we know there’s an endless supply of creativity for us all. Our God created Heaven, Earth, and everything that resides in both places. I don’t think He’ll run out of ideas for us!

One of the greatest revelations God gave me about overcoming insecurity was that the key to my freedom was in complementing and encouraging everyone else. As I began to build up my circle of friends, co-workers, and family members, I wasn’t able to focus on me all the time. Creative insecurity points to giving too much attention to ourselves. Insecurity wants to keep us caught up in ourselves, but freedom comes when we look outside of ourselves!

If you want to overcome your insecurities and self-doubt, take a look around you. Direct your thoughts toward others more than yourself. Collaborate with others, support your friends and family who are vulnerably sharing their creative passions. It’s inevitable that you will find more security in who God is within you, which results in security in the creativity He’s graciously passing through you. Let’s unashamedly but humbly allow God’s brilliance to pour out of us together!

This post was written by Kassi Russell, a digital media associate and outreach specialist for Kingdom Winds. As a former dancer, singer, and writer Kassi knows both the joy and heartache of finding a place in this world artistically. The Lord has given her a passion for dreaming big with others and practically helping creatives become the best possible version of themselves. Along with writing she enjoys music and arts, the great outdoors, and well-written movies. To read more of Kassi’s work, visit her Kingdom Winds member page here.

Featured Image by Andrian Valeanu