I’ve spent some time chatting about how I get in the phases of receiving others’ outputs – social media consumption, going out to eat, watching movies, etc., and it’s easy for me to become aware of how much we are absorbing at all times (like you reading this – my bad).
I often think about the Renaissance and other times of inspiration and creation in this world. How incredible that people just got to spend hours and hours creating masterpieces that are still around today.
We’ve built a world optimized for consumption and output, not for creation – and it’s stripping us of something essential to our wellbeing.
Shout-out to my good friend capitalism, which has provided an extra layer of protection against people’s creativity.
Because really – how is one supposed to create after 40+ hours of work? How does one find inspiration after spending the best hours of their day trying to create for someone/something else? Who has the time to create moving artwork in our homes and public architecture, when you have 3 other builds scheduled in the next year?
I had mentioned a bit of this in my Same Same, but Different blog – about how personalization and artistic touches are just gone now (a hand-carved doorway vs. a mass-produced apartment complex). There is no time to put love into output, just to create as much output as possible.
It’s not just that we don’t have time; it’s that we’ve been taught everything we create must be useful, efficient, or profitable.
How am I handling it – you ask?
Finding the Flow
As someone who is cripplingly introspective, it has always been very healing for me to write. As much as I would love to be someone who can paint or sculpt, I find the best way to calm my overflowing mind is to put words together. And I think this is really important – to find a creative outlet.
I recently saw this meme that made me laugh out loud – it said “I’m microdosing hell by being educated and well-informed“, which is unfortunately too relatable. The more I see, the less I understand. The more I feel the need to turn my attention inward. They say everyone needs to meditate at least 20 minutes a day, and those who don’t have that time need to meditate 30 minutes a day. I believe the same can be said about any sort of creative expression. Whether it’s cooking, crafting, gardening, photography, whatever – we are meant to do so much more than work and survive.
And I truly believe that everyone holds so much creative talent, they just haven’t had the chance to explore it. It would be so beautiful to experience a time where expression was the main priority – not measured in output or even outcome. I think we’d be surprised to learn what we were all capable of and how much more we’d get out of this human experience.
Something I do that has changed a lot for me is carrying around a little empty book. When I have a moment, I try to just jot down my thoughts or note anything that stands out around me. And we see this everywhere, when you think about it – some people doodle during meetings, others journal. I think there is so much love, pain, and raw emotion that people don’t know how to process, and I think that creating some sort of outlet is the only way to avoid going totally insane.
Small acts of creativity feel like a way to reclaim time and feel more connected to a world that’s difficult to understand.
Shut Up Madi 