Creative or Clever?

I’m not creative. I have plenty of friends who are and I totally admire their skills but it’s just not me.  Halloween costumes are waiting for me at Party City, why sew something when I can get a perfectly good Fat Ref costume for $29.95?

My motto has always been “That’ll do” and it’s served me well through the years. Although lately I feel like us “non-creatives” are getting a lot pressure to step it up with all of the blogs and social media surrounding everyone’s amazingly crafty ideas. You can’t go a day without seeing the most adorable ways to make a roll of toilet paper look inviting, or how to sew a communion dress for $1.32.

Therefore, I would like to make the argument that if you can’t be creative, it’s just as admirable (or more!) to be clever. Anyone can plan, organize and then spend hours upon hours making something beautiful with their own hands. However, it takes a clever (lazy?) person to think of something quickly and under pressure.

My shining example of this was a couple of years ago. My son needed black shoes for his elementary school winter concert. He had his black and white sneakers and so naturally I figured “Those’ll do”. The night of the concert my son was frantic. “THE TEACHER SAID THEY HAVE TO BE ALL BLACK!”

With 15 minutes until departure time, clever kicked in. Black and white sneakers plus black duct tape equals black shoes – DONE! (With eight minutes to spare)

Sure he was hesitant to wear them but TECHNICALLY he couldn’t argue that they were, in fact, black shoes and neither could the teacher.

Let’s say it wasn’t his proudest moment at school and he might need a few sessions on couch after that one but, it got the job done and “That’ll do”.

sambas with duct tape

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