There is a balance that many people fail to achieve. Too much yin and not enough yang. This balance is very common in the US, mainly because of the style of our economy. This balance is the delicate balance between the act of creating and the act of consuming.

Our economy is one of consumerism. The act of consuming. Eating, buying, reading, in general taking stuff in. We all do it, because we would die if we didn’t. The problem is, that we need to consume to survive. Don’t believe me? Don’t eat. See where that gets you. Consuming is something necessary to our physical existence, and I think that’s where the problem lies. Our lives are really outweighed with the act of consuming and not creating.

So what is this creating thing I keep talking about? Next time you make something (it can be anything from an excel spreadsheet to a new multinational corporation), you may think that’s creativity. In my opinion creation only happens when you feel good about it. No matter what someone says, if that spreadsheet makes you feel good, than you’ve just created something.

Now I said that we have to consume to survive, right? Well it’s my opinion that we also have to create to survive. Both mentally, and physically. The mental part is more obvious. I think that what causes Americans to be depressed, overweight, etc isn’t just the media, but a terrible imbalance. The imbalance of Consuming and Creating. Americans are a consumer society, and it seems like for some of us, that is all we do. I think that if more people started creating awesome things, than they could start to fix that imbalance. Awesome doesn’t mean it has to be big, it just has to change the world. I know that sounds like a paradox, but think of it this way. Everything changes the world in some simple way, even a butterfly flapping its wings. So your creation doesn’t have to be big, it doesn’t have to stop world hunger, cure AIDS, or anything, it just has to change the world. In some way, either big or small. (If you do stop AIDS, congratulations.)

But American’s create stuff every day, right? Well kind of, American’s create a lot of stuff that doesn’t matter to them. To them, it doesn’t seem to change anything, and usually if you create something, and you think that it’s not changing the world in any way, big or small, your probably right. So maybe we have to spend more of our free time creating instead of consuming. Next time you are going to sit down and watch a TV show, try something new and creative.

If you have that project you’ve been wanting to start, start it. If you can’t think of something, do some brainstorming. What things make you happy and you don’t even know it? For example, my dad loves to fix stuff around the house, do new household projects. He may not see it, but that is being extremely creative. You need to find out something you love. If you can’t remember, try to think of when you were a kid? What captured your attention? Try to find out how you can use that love today to be creative and to achieve balance.

Here are some examples of things you could try (you will have to learn how to do them first):

• Start a blog about your life, or some other topic
• Paint/Draw (Physically or Digitally)
• Make Music
• Take up photography
• Learn a new skill
• Learn to become an awesome chef
• Learn to garden
• Design a Website
• Learn how to Write Code
• Build something new

Those are some simple ideas to help you get started. Once you do get started, don’t give up, it may be hard in the beginning, time consuming etc. But once you do start creating, you’ll notice how much better you feel.
I haven’t talked about how creating will physically help you. Two ways. First, instead of sitting watching TV, etc, you will be moving more (sometimes). Second, humans couldn’t survive today without the creations of their predecessors.

So create something, and maybe one day you change the world in a big way.

Looking for ways to get started? I would recommend:

http://www.changethis.com/6.HowToBeCreative

http://zenhabits.net/2009/08/the-little-but-really-useful-guide-to-creativity/

http://zenhabits.net/2009/08/work-as-play/