The freedom to be ourselves, together

Creative practice is a survival skill

We live in a culture that romanticizes rugged individualism. We toss around phrases like suck it up and tough it out, and measure our worth by how self-reliant and wealthy we appear. As I write these words, I remember the cigarette ads in the magazines of my youth, tanned men in denim shirts smiling without joy in a desert landscape.

I see words like hustle, grind, and strive offered as affirmations for success, and maybe they work for you, but maybe they stop working when you realize you’re running toward a finish line that doesn’t exist, or that you’ve pushed so hard you no longer exist. We are trained to cross achievements off a task list; we drink a cocktail of individualism and commercialism that fuels our demonic obsession that someone somewhere might get something without suffering for it first.

In other words, this mindset destroys our empathy.

In a system that encourages us to look out only for ourselves, we learn to see others as a competition or a threat. We become violent, disconnected, and emotionally vacant.

But self-sacrifice in service of invented systems is just as harmful.

After a lifetime of absorbing direct and indirect messages about what we should believe, how we should behave, what we should look like, and even what we should desire, many of us have lost touch with who and what we truly are, if we ever knew.

This indoctrination begins early, often while we are still in utero. Our families, churches, schools, and other subcultures condition us to twist ourselves like pretzels into the shapes our society deems acceptable, and many of us are never given, or never reach for, the freedom to know ourselves beyond the roles we are expected to play.

Individualism isolates us, and self-erasure depletes us; both sever us from our humanity.

Individualism champions personal success (the promotion, the new car, the updated kitchen), independence (framing aid as a handout), and self-interest at the expense of the common good (lawn pesticides, factory farmed food, single-use plastic). Individualism tells us we must do everything on our own, that seeking help is a weakness, and, most destructively, that our worth is found in productivity.

The harsh reality of this ideology is showing itself now in our daily lives and how we envision the future. As our economy falters, our climate roars in crisis, and the systems we thought were solid collapse like crumpled paper beneath our feet, many people have turned to a survivalist mentality, rooted in fear and fantasies of dominance. Stockpiling weapons, hoarding food, and fortifying personal property have become synonymous with preparedness.

But this vision of survival is steeped in the same destructive logic that got us to this point: power through isolation, protection through aggression, control through fear. It assumes other people are a threat to be outlasted, rather than allies with whom our survival is linked.

Our ability to survive depends on collective efforts and understanding that we rely on each other rather than battling fictional monsters. Our salvation lies in compassion and mutual aid, not domination. Our lifeforce is love, and love builds bridges, not bunkers.

I’ve been thinking about the difference between individualism and individuation. When I talk about self-care and self-love and living as our true selves, I’m not talking about isolation or individualism, I’m talking about individuation, or the process of becoming whole.

The practice of intentionally merging our light-hearted aspects with our shadowy elements leads to a life of integrity. Because our purpose is not to create separate superior versions of ourselves but to realize our true nature. Living in truth means relating to others with clarity and empathy.

What, you may wonder, does this have to do with creativity? Well…everything.

Creative expression helps us discover who we are beyond the ways we’ve been conditioned. Creative expression is the antidote to fear. It helps us hear the steady internal guiding voice of our intuition and invites us to imagine new possibilities, not just for our own lives, but for how we all might live together.

When we create, we claim our personal story and our humanness.

In a world obsessed with survival, creativity reminds us not only that we are alive, but also offers a framework for how to be alive.

If rugged individualism isolates us and survivalist thinking prepares us to go to war with one another, creativity offers a pathway rooted in connection and curiosity. And as creative practice teaches us to see ourselves more clearly, we cannot help but see one another with more compassion. In this way, our creativity invites us to imagine and build a better world.

At its core, creative expression is relational. Even when we create alone, we’re in dialogue with our influences, those who came before us, the land, our communities, our readers or viewers, or listeners. Creativity breaks the illusion of separateness. It reminds us that we are not just self-contained beings, but participants in a living web of story, memory, and meaning. Even when we are introverts who isolate and insulate ourselves, or work removed from society, creativity is connection.

This is why creative practice is not a luxury, it’s a survival skill.

When we write a poem or fill a journal page or make a painting or sing a song or bake a loaf of bread or even daydream, we are not escaping reality; we are engaging reality. We are softening the hardened parts of ourselves shaped by fear and disconnection, and choosing to be in relationship with ourselves, with spirit, our muses, the earth, and one another.

In a world that teaches us to see competition as a virtue, creating becomes an act of communion. It is a way of remembering what it means to be human, not just a being hell bent on survival, but one that senses, feels, discerns, and responds.

If we are going to survive, we must remember that we belong to one another. We are not robots built to produce and outlast one another, and we are not warriors destined to fight for the illusion of safety. We are imaginative, intuitive, relational beings. We thrive through connection, not through control.

This is why I say again and again and again, the work of becoming our true selves, knowing our true selves, caring for our true selves, is not selfish. It’s necessary. Because when we know who we are, we can show up for one another. Only when we remove the protective armor of falseness can we tell the deep truth, and only then can we hear it. As our whole integrated selves, we can listen with our hearts and create that which nourishes instead of that which exploits.

We deserve peace, joy, and pleasure. We deserve good, beautiful lives, not because we’ve earned them, but because we exist. Our worth isn’t something we win or prove. It’s something we remember.

We are not the same. We each experience different strengths and struggles in this life. Our brains are wired uniquely, our perceptions formed through our personal histories, the gifts we came in with, and our stories. This diversity isn’t a flaw, it’s the very material of collective wholeness. If life is a pie, then it’s a pie of mismatched pieces. What we create together becomes something richer and more delicious than any one of us could offer alone.

I sit here now typing these words onto a blank page with hope. I hope I might inspire you and myself to reject the myth that we must choose between being fully ourselves and fully caring for others. I write as a reminder that the real revolution is in doing both.

We’re in a time of revolution, and creativity is one of our greatest tools. When we engage in creative expression, we make a small offering to the dream of a more connected world. Every act of creation is a gesture of reciprocity, a reminder that imagination is not escapist. It helps us build the world we all deserve to live in.

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✨My name is Lori-Lyn. I write this journal, share a monthly list of links, and publish my spiritual memoir, Cosmic Heart, one chapter at a time. I’m glad you’re here. If you liked this post, please heart it or send it on to someone else, and please consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Thank you for reading, and thank you for being.✨