What’s your number one creative struggle? Writer’s block? Distraction? Fear of failure? All of these are very real and pervasive but one nemesis hits me off my stride with a frequency and ferocity that shakes me every time.
What is this salivating beast?
Nothing more or less than BOREDOM!
Boredom is a creativity killer and a consistency crusher extraordinaire.
I don’t want for ideas. In fact I have more than I can handle. I’m not blocked from writing, because I can punch the keys with reckless abandon and smash that sucker within a few paragraphs. Maybe not the best words ever to hit the page, but words on the page whatever, and in the wrestle some gold will always spill.
No. It’s the restless slayer of dreams, boredom, that takes me down.
I fear I’ll never accomplish all I set to do. My dreams and aspirations are a million actions away. The steps there are many and lack the glamour of beginnings. The sparkle of completion seems like a mirage on the horizon of a gazillion grains of sand, each one a tiny action I must daily take to scale my mountain.
I honestly believe that this is where many creatives fall. The daily ‘grind’ of doing the necessary seemingly rubs against the grain of liberty we seek.
But it is the daily habits that make the man and shape the character.
Creativity is not an idea, it is an ACTION.
Daily actions that agrees with who you are.
Boredom is not the result of inactivity, because generally, we seek to fill every moment with some form of comfort to take away the pain. Distractions cling like limpets to our soul, draining the energy from our thoughts. Information floods our mental inbox by the drove, and floods of inconsequentials crowd every second we fail to act.
Boredom, dissatisfaction, a draining of the soul – all are the result of not ACTING on IDENTITY.
A writer who does not write will die on the vine. A singer who fails to sing will silently wither.
Oh, my soul, yearn not for fame or fortune. Seek not the world’s accolades or concern yourself with what others will think or say.
SCREAM your CREATIVITY from the rooftops and splash your colors on every flag and mast. Raise your banners and boldly shout your truth. Stir yourself to stand up, unzip the outer self with all his or her excuses and stride aggressively into adventure.
We are all called to make a dent in the world. To bring a voice that none other can. Your tune is not the one on someone else’s stave. It is a shocking opera that awakens life in the heart of your hearers. A startling remembrance of who you really are and a call for others to join you.
There is no safer place than the danger of declaration.
Finally not just saying, but slaying and stepping up to BE WHO YOU ARE.
Dear creative friend, you KNOW what you need to DO.
Go DO it and shout down the friction.
Who cares what someone else might think or say! They will not be the one standing in your place to give account on that final day of judgment.
Will you stand and say before the King of your soul, I DID who I AM. I LIVED who You made me. I strangled boredom to the floor and throttled the life out of that measly sucker, refusing to be silenced by mediocrity.
Bring BE and DO together and SCREAM YOUR CREATIVITY.
