There you are, remote in hand, the kids driving
you nuts, trying to read the mood of your significant other, feeling
defensive and/or pouty. Out of the corner of your
eye, you see the table, piled with clutter, where, if you weren’t so “lazy” and “untalented,” you would be creating. But the thought of creating is so blah, who cares?
Its not that you don’t have the time, because you
sure keep up with that favorite show (or two or three) week after week. It might be that you think you don’t have the
energy, because, like everyone with responsibilities, you put your own creative
needs at the very bottom of your priorities list.
It is exactly like exercise. Oh the dread! It is so awful, doing that work, and the
results of it aren’t immediate. And if you’ve never been fit, you really, truly
don’t know what those benefits feel like.
It seems like something only other people have access too.
Creativity is like that too. You need it.
It is part of what makes you a healthy human. But it is hard to get going on it, and often
when we do take time for our creativity, the shit we create is disappointing. If
you think it is something that only those with talent can benefit from, if you
make yourself an outsider to those benefits, then the ugly, messy,
uncoordinated, stupid stuff you are making seems like evidence of not
belonging.
Which is bullshit.
Do you hear me?
I used to think of myself as a non-athlete,
clumsy, completely lazy. I just couldn’t do it, didn’t have the energy, looked
stupid. Just no.
And then my girlfriend, who is completely
athletic, started taking boxing. “You should do it! It will help you be more assertive in your
classroom!” So I tried it, just to prove
her wrong, just to see that look on her face when she saw that indeed I
certainly did not belong in any boxing gym.
Unfortunately for me there were a lot of other
beginners there. Unfortunately for me, the coach didn’t give a crap that I was
hopelessly untalented when it comes to anything athletic. She just yelled at me
to keep going. She urged me to come back. It didn’t matter that I would never compete,
it wasn’t about that at all.
I’ve gone from prancing around like a total dork,
flailing my limp wristed hands at the bag to really freaking punching it. I
went from feeling like I was going to puke after 30 seconds of barely moving to
being able to get through 5 rounds.
The point of this story is that way too many
people think that art, writing, dance, acting or music is only worth doing if
you are talented. That to be an amateur
is to make a fool of yourself. But I’m
not asking you to make a fool of yourself in front of the whole world. I will never actually fight anyone,
and I’m not asking you to perform or to try to get into galleries. I box in the
safety of a boxing gym that supports me doing it for my health. And I support
you being creative even if you suck at it, because I want you to see that you
still get something out of it. And that
you get better.
One day, you will be ready for the mind blowing
truth that out of tune singing can be as beautiful as opera, skill-less
painting as emotionally moving as the Sistine Chapel. That someone with two
left feet can dance a powerful truth that moves you to tears. We have to stop consuming and outsourcing our creative spirits. We need to create, for ourselves and for each other.
So give yourself an hour or two. Send the kids to
a friend’s house, create some privacy and quiet, hide that fricking remote, and
do it. Don’t know where to start? Use my free eBook or video series. Be open to what comes up. And then come back and share it with me here, in the discussion below. Because, if you didn’t notice, I shared with you pictures of me painting, in my pajamas, AND! I think my painting sucks. Your turn!