True creativity requires you to let go of what you know and trust your own madness. The greatest artists, writer and musicians have stepped miles out of their comfort zones to create their art.
Up until around age five we don’t conform to societal norms. We learn a lot of that when we enter school. We learn how to stay in the lines when coloring and how to stay in our lane. But before that, the world is magical. We can do anything and be anything. Over time, conforming erodes our creative mind and we don’t even notice that it is happening to us.
By the time we are adults, we all want the American dream, right? To have a family, a decent paying job that can create financial stability, own our home, and send our kids off to college? We are content with taking a vacation or two every year. We do the same things pretty much year in and year out. And there’s nothing wrong with that, if that’s what you want. I know many people who are content with that.
But when you look at people who create, and who have achieved success, are they living that way? Are they the same as everyone else? Not in the same way.
Think about music. The best music is written from our darkest times. Being able to put words and melodies to those feelings and to create something that so many of us can relate to is magical. You can’t create that if you aren’t willing to dive deep into those feelings of despair and heartache. As a creator, you must be willing to go to a place where not many people are willing to go, to create something that resonates with a lot of people. And music impacts us so deeply, because deep down we have felt the same way, too.
I think back to a time when I was angry and felt like my world was out of control. And one day I heard Papercut by Linkin Park for the first time. Immediately, I felt like I could relate to the song. Most of the songs off their albums Hybrid Theory and Meteora I felt reflected so much of what I was feeling at the time. I was surrounded by music ever since I could walk, but nothing had ever resonated me as much as Chester screaming from those two albums. It was like they were my own words that described how I was feeling.
You see, as we get older and stay in the same old patterns and routines, we lose that spark of creativity that lives in all of us. We forget a lot of what we once wanted to be or create, and just want to stay in our lanes and continue “adulting”. Or doing what society says we should do.
But that flame inside us can be re-ignited. People have told me that at this point in their life, they don’t even know what they would do if they could create something. I say okay and I give them this list of questions to ask themselves:
- What did you love doing as a child?
- What are your happiest memories growing up?
- What would you do if you knew you couldn’t fail?
- What makes you forget to eat?
- What are you willing to stand up for?
- What are you willing to struggle for?
- What makes you forget about the world around you?
- What thoughts provoke strong emotions in your heart?
- What kinds of conversations do you have with the people closest to you?
- What do you feel passionate about?
- If you didn’t have to work a regular job, what would you do with your time?
- What’s on your bucket list?
- If you knew you only had one year to live, what would you do?
- How do you want to be remembered?
