Create something!

Philosopher/writer Alan Watts, when asked for advice on writing, responded, “Advice? I don’t have advice. Stop aspiring and start writing. If you’re writing, you’re a writer. Write like you’re a goddamn death row inmate and the governor is out of the country and there’s no chance for a pardon. Write like you’re clinging to the edge of a cliff, white knuckles, on your last breath, and you’ve got just one last thing to say, like you’re a bird flying over us and you can see everything, and please, for God’s sake, tell us something that will save us from ourselves. Take a deep breath and tell us your deepest, darkest secret, so we can wipe our brow and know that we’re not alone. Write like you have a message from the king. Or don’t. Who knows, maybe you’re one of the lucky ones who doesn’t have to.”

This applies to every kind of creative endeavor. We often don’t create at all because we overthink, over-analyze, doubt, scrutinize, pick apart and reject seeds of creative ideas even before they have been put into the ground and given a chance to grow and become something.

Just start. And then keep at it. If you don’t start, nothing can develop. Nothing can grow. We scroll through Instagram and see the awesome work of other artists but what we don’t often see are the trials and errors, mistakes and failures that were also part of every artist’s learning process along with the beautiful and accomplished work we see displayed. 

So, just start. Don’t censor at first. Just let whatever flows, flow. (You can always go back later to edit, tighten, refine and improve.) Don’t worry whether it’s going to turn out “good”. Explore, discover, loosen up, be surprised, listen to what wants to come forth and let go. Practice, practice, practice. Learn by doing. Make a 100 sketches. 

Make a commitment to draw/paint/write/create one thing every single day for a month. And don’t show it to anyone. Don’t ask, “will it sell?”, or “will people like it?” Just dig deeper and deeper into what needs to be created, what longs to be born. Be as profligate as nature; a frog lays millions of eggs, but only a few dozen of them become tadpoles and even less become frogs.

I’m telling you this, but please know that I’m mostly telling myself all this. All the time. Constantly. I have written many posts, here on my blog and on facebook, about similar themes, and I know I run the risk of being repetitive, but for me personally, I need to keep reminding myself over and over.

Photo by Erzsébet Vehofsics courtesy of Unsplash