If you were a kid again and all you had In the world was your imagination and time... what would you do with it?
I’ve been thinking a lot about this questions as of late. I find myself at a crossroads in life. A new father, an old creative... excited about so many things, yet I lack the time, and, when I do have the time, I don’t use it in the way that my ‘creative self’ wishes I did.
Due to the busyness of this season of life I find myself consuming more than I create. It’s easier to do that in a season of busyness I think. It takes much more effort and energy to say no to the next episode of Severance (which is literally designed to keep you watching) and instead use the extra brain power to create, whether that’s writing or reading something educational or learning about something...
I must admit my default has been consumption as of late. And the funny thing about consumption is that it begets itself. The more you do it, the easier it is to come back to it. You are lulled into a sense of self security. It’s painless and easy. I’m not saying there is not a place for Severance or whatever else I’m consuming... it’s just that with the limited time I have on this earth, I want to make the most of it, and yet, I don’t. I intellectually understand that in order to reach my goals, I have to put in the ‘sweat equity’ so to speak and still I find myself lethargically consuming when I have a moments notice.
This has been my relationship with social media too which is why I have this love/hate relationship with it. I love to see what my creative friends are up to, it’s inspiring... however, by my sitting there and consuming, I’m not able to participate as their peer but rather their audience. Spoon fed whatever the algorithm’s decide to serve up to me that day. It’s sorta a vicious cycle. Most of the time my social feeds are just adds anyway, not even people I know anymore. The main point that was driving value for me is gone and still I doom scroll. Do you ever struggle with this?
I want this to change in myself and recently, I came across a guy who is inspiring to me do this right now. His name is Matt Smith and he’s a UI/UX designer who has worked with some of the biggest brands/teams in the world through his company called ShiftNudge. Last year, he gave a keynote speech at the world’s largest UI/UX conference hosted by a company called Figma. Here’s the talk (10m at 2x speed). It’s short and I’d encourage you to watch it.
Ok good... you’ve watched it? What stands out to you in it? What feelings do you have about? Are there side projects that you should start up again or finish that this video is reminding you about?
We grow through experimentation, through failure, through trial and error, through not having all the answers and just seeing where the ‘path’ leads us... I want to adopt this mentality more in my own side projects and just pursue them as long as they’re interesting to me and feel as though I could actually grow from them.
The beauty of childhood is that your ‘filters’ for what is and is not something worth pursuing are not what they are when you arrive into adulthood. There are so many other messy factors that stand in the way of us accomplishing our good, side project desires... What will people think of me spending time on this? Who will even see this? How can I monetize this or become well known for it? All these questions confuse us and confuse the process of just being in something and enjoying it for the sake of enjoyment. The side projects you are working on can become something bigger, but perhaps having the right expectations is important here... maybe they don’t need to be the next career you go into or side hustle you have... maybe they can just be a pastime that is teaching you something and helping me wrestle through my creativity more?
I think I’m mostly talking to myself here. To remind myself that I should do the creative act for myself and for the joy that it brings me. That I should bring joy back into the process of creating/discovery, learning and trying new things.
I’ve been slowly reading through a book that my brother suggested to me called, Dandelion Wine (How good does that title taste on your tongue) by Ray Bradbury (known for Fahrenheit 451) who writes a fictionalized version of his childhood. I love this passage,
The world, like a great iris of an eye, opened wide. He yanked fresh apricots from the trees, gorged on them, threw the seeds away. He yelled at birds, ran through town, was chased by dogs, waved at old people, [and] told each and every one he met, ‘It’s been a good day!’
I want to stop the hamster wheel of optimizing my creativity for productivity or output. I just want to create and say, it’s been a good day!
PS. Here is some extra credit homework... it’s a long podcast but so great at breaking down some of the ideas that I’ve been thinking a lot about. How commoditizing creativity has it’s challenges for our souls…
Great thoughts! I've literally struggled with the same concept of why spend time
to create if nothing will come of it? Time is so precious now as a parent! But this year I've decided to create for myself because I do find so much pleasure in it and doing something for yourself IS important. My goal this year is to complete a novel. I've started so many over the years but never actually completed one. This year that's my goal and I've already had so much fun with it! Even if my husband is the only one that reads it, I know I will have completed something creative that brought me a lot of pleasure and THAT's what matters. :)