Everyone Is an Artist: Reclaiming the Canvas of Your Life

“You are the artist of your own life. Don’t hand the paintbrush to anyone else.” - Don Miguel Ruiz

I have been thinking a lot about creativity lately. Maybe you have, too. For me, it came in waves during the pandemic. With the world on pause, something dormant inside me began to stir. I started drawing and painting again, writing more freely, and exploring - not because I had to, but because something inside me needed to create. And I remembered something I had long tucked away: I was a creative child. But somewhere along the line, well-meaning adults nudged me toward something more practical, stable, and predictable. And while that path served me, it also asked me to shrink something vital. But here’s the truth I’ve come to believe: You can’t block the light of a creative forever. Eventually, it finds a crack and it shines through.

Creativity Isn’t Just for Artists

One of the most damaging myths we have been sold is that creativity belongs only to the chosen few. But creativity isn’t just paintbrushes and poetry. It’s problem-solving. It’s intuition. It’s reinvention. It’s the quiet courage to approach something ordinary and make it new. I define creativity as the act of producing something novel, useful, and uniquely beautiful - whether that’s a song, a spreadsheet, a conversation, or a company culture. When you approach life with a creative mindset, you don’t just do things differently. You see things differently. And that shift changes everything.

What Artists Know That Leaders Forget

In exploring the artist’s journey, I found a powerful model for how we all can show up, especially as leaders, creators, and changemakers. Being an artist means:

• Starting without knowing what the end will look like

• Responding to what shows up, not what was planned

• Sitting with self-doubt and choosing to move forward anyway

• Allowing your unconscious wisdom to surface

• Trusting yourself - even when the lines don’t make sense yet

• Embracing the mystery, rather than trying to control the outcome

And if that’s not leadership in today’s world, I don’t know what is.

Your Life Is Your Canvas

This isn’t just a poetic metaphor; it’s a practical truth. You are already creating with every decision, every interaction, and every belief you reinforce or release. So, the question becomes: Are you creating with intention or by default? Because your life is a canvas. And whether you are 35 or 65, mid-career or mid-reinvention, you can begin again. You don’t need a gallery. You don’t need a plan. You just need the willingness to start making marks - to move from passivity to participation. So, here’s what I want you to remember:

• You are creative even if you haven’t picked up a brush in decades.

• You are powerful. Even if you’ve forgotten where the spark lives.

• You are not done. Not even close.

And what if your legacy isn’t a title or a role but the masterpiece of how you lived? If this stirs something inside you, if a part of you is whispering “I want to feel that aliveness again,” then trust it.

Start something today. Paint the page. Write the note. Reimagine the conversation.

Because it’s never too late, and you, my friend, are an artist. Let’s create something extraordinary.