It’s Always The Right Time

I enjoyed this story about a man who started painting when he retired and is having an exhibition at the age of 95. For some reason, in our society there is a belief that creative success is reserved for the young. You see it in writing competitions all the time. An age limit will be given for entries, as if once you tip over the age of 30, your creativity is worthless. What a load of nonsense.

For me, although I’ve always written quietly, it was only in my 30s that my confidence started to build and in my 40s that I really started to understand how important it was to my wellbeing. And how much I might have to say. I’d had time to practice, time to explore and experience life. And apart from all of that, I was excited about trying new things. As I often mention, I didn’t start drawing again in 2014, after years believing that I couldn’t. I didn’t start writing poetry until 2019 and the words came from an impulse that I couldn’t ignore. Not once did it occur to me that I might be ‘too old’. But society would have me believe that I was.

Creativity doesn’t know how old you are. It’s society that tells us we should ‘grow out of it’ and then simultaneously tells us we need to write a prize winning novel by the time we’re 25 or it’s all over. We marvel at a 95 year old holding an exhibition of his art only because society says it’s unusual. Creativity is part of us as humans. How much time has passed since we first drew with crayons at the kitchen table really doesn’t matter.