creativity is not a product.

i watched dave erasmus’ documentary called once around the sun last night. it's a minimal & quiet film. dave narrates you through 30 odd minutes of a year long experiment with no goal or purpose, concluding what came out of a project with no path.

(watch it here, and pay whatever you’d like.)

it got me thinking.

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we want to go, go, go. it’s our response to the vibrancy of everything around us. there’s a lot of frequencies out there particularly within a metropolis. but we’re all individuals who can only soak up so much. yet, just because we can't take it all in doesn’t stop the energy from flowing. the city, as well as your phone, will always keep it coming, heavy and fast, with sharp corners & ill-fitting pieces.

in response, much of what we create is also go go go. it's a bombardment, a shotgun blast of content, an infinite performance. every little bit of creative work has to have a purpose, and once that purpose is fulfilled, that product dies, we move on and repeat. no contemplation. just absorption.

no doubt having any moment of quiet is transformative, and tranquil but not everyone so readily has access to this type of resource that dave has (25 acres of wilderness). i was wondering then how do you gain similar sensory experiences within the city structures, particularly as a creative?

this blog has the most beautiful appointment of that practice. there a lot of anxieties I have, about my future, and my past, mostly around my creative work. for so long, i wouldn't make things because they weren't good enough or the inspiration wasn't right. but the beauty of this outlet is hannah and I have been mindful since the beginning about not letting this blog be anything other than ours, no plan, just for us. expectations were not going to inform the work we created. the posts, the photos, the videos are for us first, then whatever happens after that is a cherry on top.

knowing there was no definitive goal, and that it was for us only, the construction of the posts & videos lost (nearly) all anxiety attached to them. our audience was no audience, with no expectations, no real motives. it has given us the freedom to create as we desire. make to make. to produce to fulfill a want/need to produce. and go at our own pace.

when we're intentional with what we create as an act and not a product, the barriers are lifted. the work becomes wildly more constructive, and less destructive. it's not always better, in fact, i'd say it's not as good as i want it to be more often than not. but it is moving. there is momentum. it is happening. there are lessons being learned. which is how creative growth happens.

all and all, i feel a renaissance within me for the work that i do, and the why of it. and i wish that someone had told me (or told me more often) that creativity is not a product but an act.

it's something you're doing, not something that is done,

not something that's perfect every time,

it's not something that comes when inspiration hits just right.

it's an act. and you have to act on it to feel it.