We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Brianna Paulino a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Brianna, appreciate you making time for us and sharing your wisdom with the community. So many of us go through similar pain points throughout our journeys and so hearing about how others overcame obstacles can be helpful. One of those struggles is keeping creativity alive despite all the stresses, challenges and problems we might be dealing with. How do you keep your creativity alive?
If there’s one thing about creativity, it is that it never dies. Creativity would sometimes feel exhausted, thus taking breaks here and there. Or creativity loses its motivation to continue spurring out ideas. Whenever situations like this occur, I know one thing that enhances my creativity wonderfully: collaboration and community.
These two factors are essential, especially for writing and project planning. Whenever I need inspiration, I contact those within my community for assistance. It could range from anything. From figuring out the plot structure of my story to getting insightful feedback to improve my writing. Without their input and perspectives, creativity would’ve been difficult to regain. Another way collaboration and community assisted me with my writing is through the experiences we endured together. Not only do the fantastic moments we spent enable potential writing ideas for me to write about, but they give me a sense of joy. Having time spent with those I care about gives me a sense of peace, away from worrying about trying to complete a story or project. Taking time away from my work gives me more time to think through the following steps I must complete. This is why I thank my loved ones for providing their time to create moments and memories with me.
For example, I was in a vast writing slump during my Junior year in high school. My time on homework, studying, and extracurricular activities exponentially diminished my creativity. It worried me that I tried to force myself to write, but it wasn’t as authentically me as it should’ve been. One of my friends noticed this and decided to spend time with me by playing a simple multiplayer game with my other friends. Even though it only lasted two years, it was nice to have time away from the stresses and worries. Through our hilarious conversations and glimpses of each person, a story idea popped into my head. As soon as the bonding time ended, I wrote a poem about my appreciation and love for my friends, personifying them as stunning flowers. Support had and will always assist me in encouraging my creativity to stay thriving. Without these support systems, I would lose sense of my creativity and individuality through my work.
Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
Creativity and collaboration hold great importance to me. I know it had a fantastic impact on me, and I want to share that impact with others instantly. During freshman year, I realized that several youths have minimal opportunities to express their creativity. There could be several reasons as to why that is, such as schools not providing these resources or there are little chances for their pieces to get published. Considering that, I started doing the groundwork for a project, emphasizing my love for creativity and sharing it with others.
This project is a youth-led organization called The Cleverly Creatives. Initially, The Cleverly Creatives was a blog for grades 5th – 12th to submit their work. I wanted to provide a space for these talented creatives to share their work, regardless of their writing or art level. Getting oneself out there is essential to improving as an artist. As the months progressed through this project, I realized the potential impact this project could have on other youths. While publication is a fantastic opportunity, additional resources could help one directly improve.
I expanded the blog into a youth-led organization that focuses on assisting youths to improve in art and writing. We offer a variety of programs that not only enhance their ability to create but also their collaboration skills within the creative community. These programs include but are not limited to contests, interviews to advertise their accomplishments, workshops to assist them with specific skills, and camps with various lessons, mentoring, and collaboration projects. Whenever I complete a project within the organization, I feel a sense of joy knowing that we have impacted a writer’s or artist’s journey. We’re continuing these programs and expanding to in-person workshops and art supply drives to provide more resources to youths globally. We’re really excited to see where this organization will go as we start 2024. The more we contribute to improving a youth’s creative abilities, the more we glimpse a creative and productive future, which truly is a beautiful thing to witness.
My contribution to this organization has also inspired me to put myself out there. In 2024, I will release my own writing platforms to advertise my writing pieces while I continue to assist other writers. I’ve been telling those who participated in the organization to continue sharing parts of their creativity out into the world. I believe it is time to consider my own words and apply them to myself, even if this is an exciting chapter for me to enter.
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
Throughout my journey as a writer and a project facilitator, the three impactful qualities would be determination, organization, and collaboration. I admit that completing a project can be a task even when creativity sometimes diminishes. There are times when I lose a sense of motivation to complete a project. However, I wouldn’t let it get to me because I always have a determined spirit to do things effectively and how I’d like it to be. I constantly have a to-do list with affirmations written on it to remind myself of my goals. My advice on gaining determination, especially with being a beginner writer or project facilitator, is always to keep your goals in mind. Never forget it, never leave it. Don’t let others say discouraging comments; continue focusing on your improvement. Once you do, you will see a sense of accomplishment within yourself. The more trust and confidence you have, the more you can lead your way to complete goals that you know you want to achieve. Determination helps immensely, and it’s a skill that should be used on anything, regardless of task or career path.
Now, organizing goes hand in hand with completing goals. As I mentioned, I have a to-do list of tasks and goals I’d like to accomplish. It has helped me a lot in the past to get a few projects done, and I highly encourage everyone to find organizational skills that match themselves. It could range from using a to-do list, a calendar, a visualized board, and so much more. To those who don’t know what matches them well, I recommend exploring and seeing what works best to track what you’d like to complete. I’ve done this before and went through much trial and error to see what matches me to get everything I need done.
And finally, collaboration. I’ve emphasized a lot on how collaboration has helped me immensely throughout my journey. I would advise you to continue surrounding yourself with people you’re comfortable with. I strongly recommend not to be around people who bring you down or make you uncomfortable. Even if it is a small moment that the person brings you down, don’t surround yourself with them. Words and phrases that harm you will discourage you from completing what you feel you need to accomplish. Surrounding yourself with lovable and caring people is essential to succeed because they offer immense support to anything you provide. Without the people we love, our journeys would feel a bit lonely, and it is beautiful to have the people you care about see you flourish as a fantastic individual.
Any advice for folks feeling overwhelmed?
I do admit that I feel overwhelmed whenever I have an extensive amount of work to do. To combat this, I do activities that require less thinking and more expression. Activities that help with expressing oneself are beneficial. I journal down all my thoughts, feelings, and opinions. Expressing myself on paper enables me the ability to be heard, even if it’ll only be read by me. It lets all my positive or negative emotions out into the world instead of bottling them within me. A positive that this brings is that I could reread these entries and use them as writing ideas for a story or a poem I want to construct. If I don’t feel like journaling, I spend the time crocheting plushies and cats. Crocheting is a beautiful and enjoyable art form that lets me create anything from yarn. The end products are what have me continuing to create and crochet. The advice I would give to those who ever feel overwhelmed is to let all those feelings out onto a page, whether you’re writing or typing it all away. If that isn’t your cup of tea, do an activity you know brings you immense joy. This will cool down your emotions, and then you can continue on with responsibilities in a better mindset.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://thecleverlycreatives.wixsite.com/thecleverlycreatives
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thecleverlycreatives/
- Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/brianna-paulino-2783b623a
