Sublime

In The Creative Act: A Way of Being, Rick Rubin, the legendary music producer and founder of Def Jam Recordings, calls creativity “a fundamental aspect of being human.” It is, he insists (in something of a gut punch), “not a rare ability. It is not difficult to access. […] It’s our birthright. And it’s for all of us.” Creativity, by his definition,

The people who choose to do art are, many times, the most vulnerable.

You can choose to create work only for yourself,

So, I recommend public fan letters. The Internet is really good for this. Write a blog post about someone’s work that you admire and link to their site. Make something and dedicate it to your hero. Answer a question they’ve asked, solve a problem for them, or improve on their work and share it online.

We tend to think of creativity as a predetermined ability, like someone who might have a genetic advantage to run faster. Instead, I think creativity is more of an active choice and the removal of gatekeepers means that for the first time it might take more energy to deny your own creative expression than exploring it.