Iam a city kid. After spending my early childhood in Orlando, Fla., where I came to believe that it was perfectly normal to see a certain gloved mouse on an almost weekly basis (my dad worked briefly as a consultant for Disney), my family moved to the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex. Although I missed my good friend with the big ears, I enjoyed the seemingly infinite offerings of the area’s extensive cities and suburbs. Teams like the Dallas Cowboys and the Texas Rangers call the metroplex home, with their colossal stadiums built in the shadows of Six Flags’ towering roller coasters that loom overhead. Restaurants, stores and coffee shops abound; movie theaters compete for customers with enormous screens, comfy chairs and clean, air-conditioned buildings. If all else failed, at least I had a pool. Where I come from, there is no need for creativity, as entertainment is anything but hard to come by.
Then I packed up and came to this new world called Searcy … where they have a Wal-Mart. It occurred to me after a week on campus that unless I wanted to stay in my dorm all day doing nothing with anyone, I had to come face to face with the horrendous monster I had previously had no need to confront: creativity.
Don’t misunderstand me: I love this town and I love Harding. The people are wonderful, and the strong community here is unlike anything I have ever experienced. Oftentimes, to simply walk around campus and see classmates I know or to spend time in the student center with friends is enough to make me know that I am where I need to be. Nevertheless, much of this is new to me. The very idea of life in a small town is almost entirely foreign to my experience, save occasional trips to my grandparents’ homes over the years.
With this in mind, I, like numerous other students, repeatedly must wrestle with one nagging, even terrifying question: “What is there to do in Searcy?” Without any creativity, the list of answers is quite short and probably includes Sonic runs, Midnight Oil and pretty much nothing else.
This is why creativity — the ability to take a bland situation and make it into an adventure — is key. Creativity could be the transformation of a drowsy Saturday afternoon in October into a geocaching expedition to Heber, a last-minute camping trip or perhaps a simple pick-up Ultimate Frisbee game. If hiking and sports aren’t your thing, creativity could mean watching a movie on your laptop with a friend beneath the shade of a tree in the front lawn, or maybe setting off for Little Rock (or on some weekends even downtown Searcy) in search of a free concert.
Creativity is about more than just doing things. It opens up doors to have experiences and to make memories with the people around you that wouldn’t otherwise have happened had you stuck with the typical Sonic run. Don’t let the fact that this is Searcy trip you up. Be creative, find a way to make ideas happen and go have an experience.
