The world of creativity can be easy to crave, lucrative, and even glamorous at times as everyone wants to dream up a life-changing business, sell artwork as a viable career path, or create song lyrics or videos that go viral. When we visualize those who are creatives, we often envision brooding souls, quiet individuals, or dreamers who have less than endearing qualities. Why? There are certain characteristics that creatives display that tip us off to the fact that they are more creative than their peers. Here are five strange signs that you are more creative than the average individual.
1. Your deal in a lot of sarcasm and enjoy it. According to a study published in Organisational Behaviour and Human Decision Processes, sarcasm actually increases creativity both for those who are expressing it and for those who are receiving it. This is because the humor used in conjunction with being sarcastic is caustic and requires the use of subtlety and irony. A negative meaning will be disguised as a positive statement that can be interpreted in a positive manner which requires the listener to understanding the meaning of the statement despite the flipped use of the words. This, in turn, means that both the listener and the deliverer must use more mental processing to make the statement straightforward and are therefore more creative in the use of their thought patterns.
2. You prefer to have cats laying around your house than dogs. A study that was done at Carroll University in Wisconsin, found that individuals tend to have similar traits to the pets that they keep around. Dog owners tend to be more sociable, rule-followers, and energetic individuals, whereas, cat owners had increased introversion and sensitivity.
3. You are emotionally unstable. Several studies have shown that those with the greatest creative abilities often suffer from phobias, generalized anxiety, and depression more often than the average person. Some reasoning behind this is because creatives who have social anxiety are better able to sense what others are feeling as they are more empathetic. Another reason is that creative types are more likely to access a wider range of emotions than the average person and so they experience depression and phobias more often. To put this in perspective, research has shown that artists are 10-30 times more likely to suffer from manic or major depression.
4. You keep really strange hours. If you work better in the middle of the night or choose to get up at ungodly hours, then you are probably more creative than others. This is known as staying in and keeping scheduled to your creative flow. Some artists and songwriters do their best work after midnight while others, it’s the sunrise that gets their creative juices flowing. Your days will be structured around when your mind hits peak engagement, which is linked directly to creativity.
5. You see possibilities everywhere. For those who are creative, possibilities crop up from every nook and cranny. One of the primary ways that creative individuals find inspiration is in the things that they notice. Unlike others whom walk through the world without paying much attention to detail, it is the creatives that hear the leaves flutter in the wind or see the trail of ants hidden along the grass line. If you are creative, you’ll be able to use your imagination to draw on and expand the world around you.
If any of the above traits or characteristics sound familiar to you, they may be a good indicator that you have the capability to be more creative than the average person. This is especially true if the behaviors that would otherwise annoy your peers, like arguing with those who you disagree with, actually cause you to want to get engaged. After all, creativity is born from innovation which comes from the combination of ideas, situations, and improvements in thinking.