Why Quiet Children Grow Up to be Creative

I was a quiet child who grew up reading every book I could find in the library, speaking more to my stuffed animals than I did to other children. I found the playground noisy, preferring to play pretend with my best friend instead of swinging from the jungle gym or throwing rocks at each other (yes, this is something we did as little kids. It’s called a “war of rocks”. It’s very prestigious and only slightly terrifying.) I remember returning home from school one day and my mother was smiling. I asked her why and she replied, “oh, your classmate was so excited. She said you actually spoke in class today!”

I was puzzled. Why was speaking such a big thing? I followed the rules and didn’t talk much in class, although kindergarten was rough for me because I got yelled at by my teachers for counting chairs while bored in music class, and I didn’t understand the concept of homework when we had more than enough time to finish it in school. I procrastinated because real-life was boring and the imaginative life was so much more fulfilling. I played pretend a lot, mostly by myself with my stuffed animals for stand-ins. But this was how I grew up to be creative.

When you’re the quiet kid, you have more than enough time to create entire worlds inside your head. When the real world shuts you out with its noisiness, then you can set up a separate one with its own rules and citizens. You can create worlds where you’re the king or queen, worlds where you act as a god and take control. You can create peaceful worlds or worlds where you’re the hero saving others from the evils of war. And it’s this simple act of creating, without any noise or distraction, that helps you become an even more creative and imaginative being when you grow up. You, as that quiet kid, find solace in the silence. You draw, sing, act, or write stories because the quiet comforts you.

And from nothing, you can bring your dreams to life