“The way I see it I’m lucky to be in a position to advocate for creativity as a live-well strategy”.
– Jeff Tweedy World Within A Song
Today, I try to be your Jeff Tweedy, your Margaret Atwood, your Ole Kirk Christiansen. Your creativity sherpa. I’m going to put forward the idea that you were made to consume enough, but to create a lot. We consume to survive, and we survive in order to create.
In the face of Netflix and Budweiser and X Box which want to keep us binging, hooked and dependant, let’s all agree that we do not exist in order to consume the products or ideas of others, we consume (food, water, even entertainment) so we can create for ourselves.
Ideally, if a kid watches a 2 minute hockey video on Youtube, she then goes out and practices taking shots against the garage door for an hour. Ideally, if a marriage and family therapist has a website he uses it not only to sell his services, but also to explore and play with (and share!) things he think are beautiful. This is an idea platform, an empathy platform. If it helps people find the help they need, that’s spectacular, too.
Is it even possible to imagine building more than watching others build? I’m having a hard time wrapping my head around it. Maybe a good place to start is a 10/1 ratio. For every 10 minutes I spend reading this week, I will spend 1 minute writing. For every 10 minutes I spend on X Box, I will spend one minute outside. I do know people who spend more time running, jumping, and playing; reading, writing, and singing; than watching stuff, but not many.
Why? I don’t imagine that people find YouTube all that captivating. I know I don’t. I suppose it comes from the fact that Creativity places demands on us. You can’t “get it wrong” on Netflix or sing out of tune on iTunes. Those are (mostly) one way streets. However, people might mock you if you start to dance around the office. They might not listen if you write a song.
The fear of looking stupid was taught to you at a young age and it is that fear that keeps you from the joy of creating. You were not born with a fear of looking stupid. Kids are fearless that way and think they are the best at everything until we teach them otherwise.
How many times have you told someone,
I can’t….
Sing
Dance
Paint
Play ____
Act
Write poetry
Make people laugh
Now it might be true that you aren’t proficient at those things. But you probably aren’t proficient at skeet shooting either. So, the reality is that you can probably sing, dance, act, etc. at some level. And what happens if you allow yourself to sing, just a little?
Creativity is cheap and always possible. That’s why it’s the Pipe Cleaner of Creativity. I want us to remember how low the stakes are. It is not the giant slab of Italian Marble of creativity. It’s not the Steinway grand piano of Creativity. It’s the humble Pipe Cleaner of Creativity.
Could’ve been the Kazoo of creativity. Anyone who can asperate can learn how to play the kazoo.
It’s also the Pipe Cleaner of Creativity because of my walk-the-walk, ethic. Like believing I’m not a dancer, I consider myself not-crafty. So, I’d be a hypocrite if I promoted being creative in the ways that I have some comfort with. With pipe cleaners, everyone starts on the same level! If even I grabbed a bag of pipe cleaners, I’m sure I could make something with them. I might never be the world’s greatest pipe cleaner architect or puppet maker, but that’s probably ok.
In short, next time you’re feeling blah, and you don’t really want to tackle the next chore, but doom scrolling isn’t quite cutting it for you, Create something. I assure you you’ll feel more alive, a little more human. I suggest also that it be something cheap, something with low stakes. Often times, we get so busy buying stuff to make things with that we never actually get around to playing with them. You probably own enough stuff, already. But are you using what you have? Pen and paper, will do. Stories, sonnets, songs, even board games require little more to make than pen and paper. Or the piano/guitar/kazoo gathering dust in the corner (we have a lot of instruments in my house.)
Or maybe you practice a “If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em” strategy, like I am right now. Do the thing you’d normally do compulsively, but in a creative way. Use the machine rather than having the machine use you. Like most people, I am drawn to screens like moths are to light bulbs (or Zoomers to the Prairie Theatre Exchange – for they are propping up the creative arts in this city). And since I love to write and I’ve had this “Tools” idea in my head for years now, I started blogging about it.
Win – win. I am drawn to screens and love making stuff. This blog, like a Pipe Cleaner, costs next to nothing, is highly flexible, and can be quite colourful.
Find something, anything, and build with it. And if you don’t think anyone else will give a hoot, please know that I would. Nothing makes me feel more proud to be human, than seeing the creations of others. Well, I’m happiest when creating with others – it’s why I love my job so much.
Creating and watching others create for themselves are my second favourite things.
…
One last note on creating with others:
Last night was Christmas, and after the turkey, my wife, child, parents, and I sang some Christmas Carols. Neither my father nor I have particularly strong singing voices, but we did our best. We all enjoyed ourselves. We got to be in harmony for a bit, and strove to be in harmony with each other for the whole time. No one criticized anyone for anything and we all pitched in.
Now, like most people, I sometimes feel sad or alone or simply stuck in my head. And I’m fairly socially awkward, so I often feel most alone in a room full of people. Last night, while singing with my family, I felt many things, a bit self-conscious, a bit worried that I’d messed up a lyric, but I mostly felt happy. Happy that my family and I were creating that moment together. And I swear I’m even happier now, remembering it. That joy in making things with other people, is what drives my work; it’s the joy in coaching my son’s basketball team; it’s the joy in being a father, in being a husband, in being a son.
And beyond that, I feel happy simply because such amazing songs exist, and, like all songs, they exist to be sung.
So, whomever your family is, whether you were born to them, or they are your neighbour or best friends from college; whoever they are: sing with them. Or dance. Or do slam poetry. Have a lovely conversation.
Or, if you’re really feeling it, make collaborative Pipe Cleaner skyscrapers.
After all, your soul exists to be sung, too.