Every Woman at This Table Said "I'm Not Creative" First
by Leah Wilkerson
Let's Get Something Straight
Stop me if you've said this: "I'm just not the creative type."
Maybe you've owned it like a fact. Like your shoe size or your blood type — just something fixed about you. You hand the word "creative" to the painters and the decorators and the women whose homes look like Pinterest boards, and you get back to your actual life.
Here's what I need to say to you, directly:
That story is a lie. And you've been living inside it long enough.
Julia Cameron — author of The Artist's Way, a book that has quietly rearranged the lives of millions — put it plainly:
"Creativity is God's gift to us. Using our creativity is our gift back to God."
Not some people. Not the talented ones. Not the ones with studios and aesthetics and Substack followings. You. You've already been doing it.
You've Already Been Doing It
The meal you made from almost nothing in the fridge. The text you sent when your friend needed exactly those words. The way you solved the problem everyone else walked past. That was not luck. That was not an accident.
That was you, creating.
The real problem was never that you're not creative. The real problem is that you stopped trusting it. Somewhere between the teacher who marked up your paper and the decade that got swallowed by hustle and survival — you buried it.
Good news: buried things can be dug up.
Five Ways Back In
1. Start before you're ready. There is no perfect moment. There is only this one. Make something imperfect. Cook something new. Write something down. Rearrange one shelf. Motion creates momentum. Waiting does not.
2. Name your inner critic — then keep going. That voice that says who do you think you are? It's not wisdom. It's fear dressed up as practicality. You don't have to silence it. Just refuse to take orders from it.
3. Ten minutes is enough. You don't need a free afternoon. You need ten minutes and a little stubbornness. Journal. Doodle. Hum on your walk. Small, repeated moments of making something add up to a life that feels like yours.
4. Get out of her lane. Her feed is polished. Her life looks curated. You're comparing your backstage to her highlight reel — and it's costing you. Your creative path is yours. The pace, the style, the direction. Stop measuring. Start moving.
5. Define your own finish line. Success doesn't have to mean a following or a product or a brand. Maybe it means finishing something. Maybe it means joy. Maybe it means your kid watching you make something with your hands and deciding she can too. Write down what "enough" looks like to you. That definition is the whole thing.
Here's What Changes Everything
Creativity doesn't survive in isolation. It needs a room. It needs people who believe in what you're making before you do. The right voice at the right moment can unlock something you've been sitting on for years.
That's not a metaphor. That's just what happens when you finally feel seen.
This Is the Room
Not a networking group. Not a course. A community — of makers, entrepreneurs, artists, and women who are building something real and choosing to do it together instead of alone.
Monthly in-person gatherings. A weekly newsletter. A directory of women you can actually call. A group chat that keeps it going in between.
No one is ahead of you here. No one is behind. Everyone is just showing up.
If you've been quietly making things with no one to show them to — this is the room. If you've never once called yourself creative — this is still the room.
You don't need to have it figured out. You just need to be willing to walk in. What you were given has always been enough. It's time to use it.
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CONTINUE READING: The W4W Creativity Series
Post 2: What Does Your Creativity Actually Look Like? — Coming June 8
Post 3: What Do You Do With It Once You Find It? — Coming June 29
Post 4: What Happens When You Share It? — Coming July 27
