Why is creativity so lonely, even when we’re part of a team?
Creativity is pre-destined to be lonely. We are all alone with our ideas, creating, making something from them. We might be part of a creative team for a design firm, or assisting a photographer, or working with an ad agency to create a logo, or a member of a rock band. When we’re part of a creative team, we might feel less alone. But we’re exposed. The ideas we express to our colleagues can be ignored, rejected, or morphed into something we don’t recognize. They’re our ideas alone, and we’re the ones taking the risk in putting them out there. We may be rewarded for our courage. Or not.
Why is creativity such a struggle for solo artists?
It’s just as lonely for artists working alone. We’re all alone with our ideas, good or bad or nonexistent, with no one to bounce them off. There’s no one to praise them, but us. There’s no one to diss them, but us. We artists can be pretty accomplished at our initial enthusiasm for our ideas, only to later dismiss them as wretched.
Our self-talk will ultimately rule what we make and what we make of it.
We might be painters alone at our easels, photographers looking alone through our viewfinders, musicians alone at our pianos, writers alone with our journals or at our Macs, sculptors alone with our chisels. Bottom line: we’re alone with our creativity, we’ll struggle with it alone, our self-talk will ultimately rule what we make and what we make of it. It’s our risk, with or without reward.
The naked risks we take make us the bravest people on earth.
Don’t ever forget that. We are the risk-takers, and that takes bravery. Lots of people show up for work each day, do what’s required and what’s asked, and never feel the risks—and the rewards—that people do who are creating something. When you’re one of the people who’s taking risks by creating and boldly putting out your ideas, day after day, there will be plenty of days where things won’t work, and that won’t feel so good. So what will we do? We’ll just keep on doing what we do, what we must do, if we have any ideas left in our souls at all. We must take the risks, along with whatever comes. We must. Because we are the brave ones. ♣
What’s the biggest risk you’ve taken lately with your art? What’s your reward for taking risks?
HERE’S WHERE I SHARE THE RISKS I TAKE, HOPING FOR REWARDS, BUT EVER ONWARD.
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