Brains!

Hey everyone, I'm so sorry for the huge delay. I won't go into the sordid details of my silence, mainly because they aren't terribly interesting and not sordid at all. My parents came to visit, and then things just snowballed and the days have sped past. So I apologize.

To make up for it, here are some links to my facebook albums that I've posted of my little vacation:

Anyway, I realized something last week when my parents were here. When I was young, I was very creative. If you asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up, after I realized that vets have to put animals to sleep, I wanted to be an artist, mainly a sculptor. I just loved creating something out of a hunk of clay. I was very right-brained. While I could do math and was good with language, I excelled at most creative endeavors.

But somewhere in my 30's until today, I've lost almost all of my creativity. I've become seemingly much more left-brained. I am much more analytical (I wasn't at all when I was younger). Also, I have come to realize is I just don't really care much about art anymore. I have developed a fondness for exacting and correct information. I love the facts. I don't even enjoy reading fiction anymore. Now I love nonfiction (which I hated in my younger years) and find a book about science to be a most interesting and compelling read.

I still like to take pictures, but now it's to document nature. Before it was to be artistic and tell a story. I have no desire to do art anymore, and would probably cover my walls in something that was practical (like cork!) so that I could use them more efficiently,  instead of any art or decoration, if Butch, my long-suffering husband would let me.

Butch says I'm still creative, but I looked at the pictures he took last weekend, and the ones I took. His are beautiful, with a great use of lines, and are very artistic. Mine are merely trying to capture the scene to share it, or to record a moment for later. While I know all about the Golden Ratio (the Rule of Thirds) and am still very sensitive to color (I used to restore old photographs), I didn't think to take the kinds of pictures that he did.

I disagree with Butch. I care much more about logic, reason, skepticism, science and the scientific method than I ever did before. It's what I'm passionate about now. Whereas in my youth up to my 20's, I was passionate about creating art, and reveled in the supernatural. I was very emotional, and not rational in the slightest.

What do you think? Is there something to this? Do people change from right-brained to left or vice versa? Is that common? Have you gone through such a transformation or do you know someone who has? Or is this unusual? I have no idea. I'll have to ask around among my friends, but I'd love to hear your thoughts!

9 comments:

  1. Interesting. I think everyone probably changes as they get older, but maybe not quite as dramatically as you have! I wonder if part of your early loves were either because of identifying with someone you admired (parent, sibling, teacher) who loved those things, or a reaction *against* someone who didn't value those things - you know, like sometimes when one child is "The Brain", the next child won't even try to excel in brainy things, but will turn to athletic things to make their own mark? Then maybe when you got old enough to be on your own, you gravitated towards what you really loved, rather than identifying with or rebelling against someone else?

    I used to love playing the piano, and rarely went more than a few days without playing - sometimes for hours at a time. Now, I go months and months without touching it. Back when I used to go to church, I would play piano in the services somewhat regularly, which gave me a specific reason to practice, and now I don't have that. Also, now I don't have a regular piano, I have an electric piano (with a full keyboard) that mostly feels like a real piano, but not quite. I'm not sure if I don't play as much because I don't have a "real" piano, or if I don't have a "real" piano because I don't care as much any more :)

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  2. Oops, forgot to check the "notify me of followup comments" box with the first message.

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  3. Thanks Marcia. Well, when I was young, I was the brainy kid, actually. I was the straight A student while my sister barely passed. I enjoyed school and did well, but my passion was art. When I first started out, it was just something I loved to do. Then I found out there were wood sculptors on my mother's side. But I had the love of sculpting first.
    I think some people do rebel or follow in role model's footsteps. For me, though, it was just the love of art.
    Then after I became an atheist, then more recently a skeptic, art has no appeal to me and now I love logic, skepticism and reason with a particular passion for science. :)

    Yes, it would be interesting for you if you could get a real piano, if that would spark your interest again. You never know. People go through phases too. So you might just be in a non-playing phase.

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  4. I was always more creative when I was in my teens and 20's but I worked very hard to be mathematically inclined. I don't remember if that is right or left brained. (BTW, I didn't know there were *zombie* kittehs out for both sides of my brain!!) I think we're "pushed" to be one thing or another when we're young. But as an adult, we can change either way with age. For me, religion was a great "refuge" because it did not force me to look at anything. The "god said it - I believe it - that settles it" sort of thinking. It certainly makes like easier, but not interesting. Now I can be creative with maps and computer graphics. Kind of a cross between both. I do think people's views and direction can and frequently does change. but it's dependent on the person. My daughter, who is 17, is completely artistic. there isn't an analytical bone in her body. She isn't "wired" up that way. I would be surprised if she came up to me in 10 or 20 years and said she was all about science.

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  5. I don't know you beyond reading your blog, but you seem creative to me. Perhaps you may just be expressing your creativity in a radically different way from when you were younger. Your passion for science, skepticism, and reason could be leading you to direct your creative energies in a different direction.

    It takes some creativity to tackle and integrate new ideas and blog about them. Yes, it is very different from visual artistic creativity, but I think it is still creative.

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  6. Marcia, I can relate to the piano thing. Playing piano used to be my favourite thing. I don't have a 'real' piano now, just a keyboard, which I don't like so much. Also playing reminds me of church, perhaps? (had my talents taken advantage of).

    I have a mixture of right brain/left brain - I'm a visual person. I used to 'think' exclusively in pictures, but now I think in words too.
    I did a science degree (chemistry) but enjoyed improvising on piano - I needed a creative outlet to balance out all the logical thinking. My analytical thinking is very strong since my studies.
    I have some quirks like I can't remember my own phone number or do mental arthmetic, yet I was one of the top students at school.
    I rarely read fiction anymore. I doubt I could write fiction anymore - I'm into writing memoir at the moment - a blog about losing my religion and a website about Asperger's Syndrome.

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  7. I think my art teacher gave a pretty good explanation for this. She said a lot of the time when she gets new students they complain at how bad they are at art, but she just asks them "When was the last time you drew anything?" and most of them say its been several years, her response is that creativity is just like anything else, the more you use it the better it becomes. The example she always gives is, Well if the last time you drew was when you were 5, how could your skills possibly have advanced since than if you haven't practiced it? This might be an answer to your question, just thought I would share my insight :)

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  8. While I still do many artistic endeavors, I've absolutely shifted my reading habits from almost exclusively fiction to almost exclusively non-fiction.

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  9. I've recently started doing more artistic endeavors. I am finding it quite difficult. But the comments on this post reminded me that it's a skill that you have to exercise. But yes, Rachel, I did the same thing quite some time ago. I switched to completely nonfiction.

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