Creating
I Hate it, I Need it, I Sometimes Love it.
I Hate It
It all starts when a vision pops into your mind. Once it’s there, it lingers until it manifests itself into reality. It’s annoying really. Nobody asked for it to pop up. It’s usually an uninvited visitor that occupies valuable real estate in my brain. It seems to grow larger as it absorbs more details and ideas that arise.
Anxiety arises as soon as the vision does. The vision is not always crystal clear and neither are the means of achieving the vision hence, anxiety. My visions usually come in the form of a video, an image, or a writing topic. They start with a general idea. Sometimes I’ll see a detail or a line, and it disappears as quick as it popped into my head. What bogs me down is thinking of the production process and the little details. Who’s going to shoot this? Where? When? How? What about the weather, what if it’s not perfect? And sometimes this one really gets me.. What’s the point?
I’m new to writing for fun, I’m new to making videos, and I’m new to making images. I don’t really know what my process is yet, or what exactly works for me. However, I do know that lingering kills me. Lingering is when the judgements start to flow in. They flow in and taunt the vision in my head. “Hey, you’re dumb. Hey, that’s impossible. Hey, that’s not cool/funny” they say. This delays the execution of the vision and drives me mad!
The excuses destroy everything. One that I use often see and use myself is the I need this before that. I need to be in this sort of brain space. I need to find this perfect person. I need to have access to this perfect spot. I need to move before I can find my creative flow. I’m in an unhealthy relationship, so I can’t do anything until I’m out of it.
Fact is, all of these excuses are valid if you let them be. It’s kinda like a self fulfilling prophecy. If you believe the lies you’re telling yourself, then you run the risk of stagnation and the vision developing into a massive tumor in your brain. You don’t want that, right??
I Sometimes Love It
My advice? Get out there and make it. Attack that vision in any and every way you know how (I need to take my own advice more often). Give it your best effort. If it’s terrible, fugghetabout it. You learned and the vision tumor disappears. And probably, a new one arises.
In my experience on set and in my own creative ventures, I have notice that vision starts to rapidly evolve when it starts manifesting into reality. Planning helps, but the little adjustments, quirks, and details that unexpectedly arise in the creation process is often the game changer. One new idea leads to the next and soon enough, you have a tangible creation that may or may not look anything like the original vision tumor. Oh ya, and sometimes it’s fun!
Executing a vision feels great. Eliminating the vision tumor allows space for new visions to start growing and developing. Just puke out as much as you can and get to the creation ASAP. Nobody likes a lingerer.
I Need It
I now think creating is a genuine human need. I know I need it. I seem to get a little jolt of energy once I put something out there or at least make moves towards executing the vision. I’ve been digging this writing challenge, because it forces me to create! Getting into the creative flow takes effort sometimes. I love baseball, but sometimes I wasn’t in the mood. But I’d show up, get a sweat going and soon enough I was flowing. It’s like hiking. The first ten minutes kinda suck, then you break the sweat and it seems to get a little easier.
Creating comes in many different forms throughout the world. Defining what it means to be creative is tricky. I’d say that it requires engagement. Engagement requires thinking/brain aliveness. It is whatever makes you, you. It’s however you go against the status flow. It’s however you express yourself in an authentic way.
I want to see a world where everybody makes the decision to be creative, whether that comes in the form of work or a hobby. As an organizational psychologist, I’m particularly concerned with creativity in the workplace. To achieve this, the organization’s culture has to allow for individuals to be individuals. But also, the individual needs to make the conscious decision the be themselves, put the effort in, and create.
