The Curse of being creative
Being creative is not at all an easy job, In fact it is one of the most dangerous jobs, one can take.I always wondered why is it so hard to be creative? During all this time, children amused me a lot. They are insanely creative. Can education be held responsible, people around me, or thinking I have been fed since ages? My God,I struggle with it for such a long time.
Then it slowly occurred to me. We live with others, talk to others,see them all around us all the time & as humans we have an inherent desire inside us. We should be, in fact must be accepted & should be appreciated. Wow!!!This was the key that solved my creativity puzzle.
When you try to be creative, you try to do things in a way, different way, better way, in a way that appeals to you so uniquely, that you accept, you were born with it.. But there is always a question. Will they accept what I am doing. Will I get the accpetance, will I get the appreciation, will they criticize, will they laugh, will they..., will they...., will they......
And we end up creating something which is not what we want to create but which is what they might or lets pray, should appreciate.This tendency to be a SCENE makes us such a handicap that we end up creating something which is on the grounds of what they have already appreciated.We virtually trade our creativity with their acceptance & unfortunately we end up with something very familiar. NOTHING.
There are few people ,I consider creative & In fact,they have created things which were accepted & they have created things which were brutally rejected; by the world. These are really well known and acknowledged people so I always asked myself. What if this guy has created, was not accepted by others, Would he continue creating things or will he try to do what will be accepted by others? Always I found that the answer is yes. Creating is not an option, a way to make money or a way to show off for them.It is what completes them.
When these people create something, they dont ask themselves what will OTHERS say. There is no OTHERS for them. From somewhere inside these people know that they have created a masterpiece. They have created something which can be rejected, can be way ahead of its time or can be way too good for others to be appreciated.This is the force that keeps them going even when everything else says you are insane. Let's accept it, someday ,sometime you will make something which will be rejected. What will keep you going? Their acceptance? more you seek it, more you lose it. There is only one way to live & that is to remember who you are & not what they want you to become.
So If you are the one with the gift of creativity unfortunately, then I strongly advice not to listen to others too well. Almost always what you create is amazing, the amazement takes a beating when you starting trading it with acceptability. Don't be a scene. We already have millions of them.
Be Creative, Be Insane.
Arpit
