I’m on a quest to figure out what living the “creative life out loud” looks like for me (and hopefully help others figure that out for themselves). It’s not an easy task. Being a creative often comes with the desire to creative/make so many different things. To touch many mediums and see what you like. Sometimes, you like them all and can’t land on just one. You might lean harder to one medium, but the fact is, sometimes you need to experience the modalities of different art forms and expressions. This can also be a difficult concept for those supporting the creative. Maybe it’s a difficult concept for us as we support the creative around us (sometimes, even a creative struggles to understand another creative).
For me, this is a difficult task that I struggle with internally. I mentioned that my time at the Click Away Conference in mid-September was life changing. One of the big take-aways for me was that fear and doubt are along for the ride in a creative’s journey…but they don’t get to give directions. They can sit in the backseat…and just sit there.
I was all over that concept. It makes complete sense…and it is liberating to have that hit home.
The problem?
Making those words, that made such complete sense when you heard them, stick and become a reality in your daily walk.
I am my own harshest critic. I can talk myself out of the best idea/plan. I allow what others might think influence what I do, or how I do something…and sometimes…I even let that influence whether or not I move forward.
I hate that about me. I loathe it…with a passion. I want it to go away – RIGHT NOW!
And yet…that too, is a process. A walking through the journey of discovering who I am as a lover of all things creative. What is it that I want to do? What is it that I want to make in order to bring in a small income?
I don’t know…yet. What I do know is that I’m working on it. I am also working on making Snigglefritz, the blog, my personal journey of HOW to live a creative life out loud.
What I also know…I want to be a cheerleader for those who are on the same type of journey. Every one of us is at a different stage in the journey. There is someone who is further along in the journey than I am…and I am further along that someone else. Additionally, while our journeys might be similar…they are not the same. We all walk our own path.
That being said, there are already so many bystanders on the sidelines of our path willing to throw litter our direction (the litter being negative statements couched in ‘friendly’ advice; questioning the ‘why’; asking how to we have the skills to do what we want to do.). I don’t want to be one of those bystanders on someone else’s journey.
Nope, I don’t want to be a litter-tosser.
I want to be the loud, screaming cheerleader on the side of the path…waving my pom-poms and screaming at the top of my lungs, “YOU CAN DO THIS…YOU GOT THIS!!! KEEP GOING!!! I’M HERE FOR YOU!!”
I mean…we all have plenty of people willing to give us the hash doses of reality. Am I right? And we should have those people…the ones who are not emotionally invested in what we do. They will be the ones who tell us what we aren’t doing right and what we are doing right…and what to do next. (We also need to be very selective who we choose to be those people). What we need are the members of our family and close friends, and every so often, the acquaintances we know, to be our cheerleaders. We need to have those people who think that everything we do is perfect…even when it’s not.
I want to be that for those around me. I really want to be that for my family and dear friends. I want to be their biggest cheerleader. I want my family to know that, no matter what (even if it takes them on a path that is not near me, or limits out time together), I am ALWAYS on their side…no ‘what if this’; no ‘but what about this’…nope – ALWAYS ON THEIR SIDE!
So, what kind of person at the side of the path are you? The other question…have you identified those cheerleaders on the sidelines of your path? Do you know who the litter-tossers are? Know who all of these people are – they will be the people who make it all worthwhile (yes…even the ones who make things a little difficult for the moment!).
Just my Thursday Thinkings…