The Ultimate Creative Act
I’m here to assert something very simple, but very powerful – That we should each create the world we want to live in, and then have the courage to live in it. What would it take to do that?
Each of us would need to do everything in our power to resist branding, to resist typing, to resist any type of packaging at all.
Each of us would need to constantly remind ourselves, and anyone else who will listen, that the richest life experiences come when we tell ourselves this is who I am, where I am, when I am, and I’m not going to modify myself for anyone. I won’t be quiet, I won’t sit down, I won’t color inside the lines when it’s a lot more fun to color with no lines at all. I don’t need coaching (sorry Corporate America), and I don’t need you to tell me how I ought to be (sorry parents).
Each of us would need to have the courage, the ferocity, the brashness a child has, to celebrate ADHD by calling it G-R-E-A-T, not by telling a child he needs to take Ritalin so he can focus better and become a better reflection of what we want instead of what he might become if we left him alone.
We would need to celebrate art as much as money, a big heart as much as a big house, and love more than ambition.
The temptation is to make our lives simple (even branded), so that we can safely hit the PLAY button over and over again without having to think too much, but our minds know when we are lying and rarely let us get away with it.
The Ultimate Creative Act is to create the world you want to live in, and then to have the courage to live in it. That means using your own judgment and your own interpretations to create a world that’s worthy of you, and not the other way around. With friends? Absolutely. With other people? As many as possible. Anyone who has seriously attempted to create a worthwhile life for themselves always ends up reaching out to others, not pulling away from them.
Why not take a moment to join the conversation? What does the world you want to live in look like?