The Effort of Creativity

Making things isn't easy. Sometimes I sit at my desk thinking about the various projects in process that I want to take to the next step, and I can’t seem to make myself do any of them.

My tools are ready, at my fingertips. The curser blinks, pencils are sharpened, digital files of sound waves wait for me to release them from my recorder. Little pieces of art in words and voice lurk in my brain.

I have a few great ideas, I say to myself. Well, they could be. Good ones anyway. Of course I actually have to begin. Or begin again. Or pick up where I left off.

Instead, sometimes I look up and realize I've been staring at my computer for, um, awhile. Why is this so stinking hard? Then it hits me. Every project right now is in a stage that requires creativity.

Beginning to create isn't easy because it requires overcoming mental, physical, and emotional inertia.

Creativity is challenging because of the sheer energy required to make something out of nothing.

But making something out of nothing is worth the effort.

Thinking about this when when it's tough to begin, or sustain, the work I love to do reminds me to speak much kinder to myself. And I’m not sure which is the more important insight: acknowledging the effort of bringing into being something which wasn’t before, or feeling the fruit of being kind to myself.