This is something I’ve been thinking about a lot lately, the idea of building personal agency through practicing some form of creative activity.

To clarify “agency”, I mean acting of your own will and making your own choices, not the Don Draper kind. :)

By the time we have grown up, we’ve been subjected to millions of subtle and not-so-subtle messages about what to think, feel, do. We’ve also built a bank of experiences around consequences of our choices.

As adult you may find yourself making all your decisions around work and the needs of other people. While important, it’s not all that life is meant to be.

Taking up a creative practice such as painting gives you not only an outlet for ideas, but also a way to make fully independent decisions, unhooked from the rest of your day. Self-expression through choices.

Agency through art.