Ever since I was very young I thought of myself as a writer. Even when I was going through stages where I wasn’t writing regularly I thought of myself as a writer. Many people who want to write seem to struggle with thinking of themselves as a writer. They say, “I want to be a writer,” or “One day I’ll be a writer.” You are a writer when you decide to be a writer. That is simply a shift in thinking that you must make. Do you write? Okay, then you’re a writer. [Read more…] about How to Become a Writer and an Artist
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Live Your Fullest Life and Make Our World a Better Place
Who told you that you were so special? What made you think that you wouldn’t have to work like the rest of us? Where do you get off thinking that what you create is worth anything? How dare you think your photography … music … paintings … stories are good enough to pay for?
You take these questions to heart and fall into a nine to five. Every morning you slip on a suit, or pin on a name tag, or put on your biggest fakest smile. You’re busy with work and family. Soon you’re too busy to create at all. Your paints … camera … guitar sits in the corner of the room untouched. The stories that once swirled in your head have long since disappeared.
The art inside of you has drained out and you find yourself living someone else’s life. You are no longer special because you’ve decided to ignore the very thing that makes you YOU. Your art is worth nothing because it was never created.
The beginning of this post is a bummer, isn’t it? It has been true though for many, including me. In the past I took jobs that didn’t really interest me instead of focusing on the creativity that came so naturally.
Applying for jobs is a habit that I’ve actually found hard to kick. Just today I passed a now-hiring sign for Bed Bath and Beyond and thought that maybe I should apply. I didn’t though, because I don’t really want the job and I realized that my path in this life is taking me to a new exciting place that doesn’t involve selling people towels. Not that there’s anything wrong with selling towels. It’s just not for me.
You aren’t doing anyone any favors by living an inauthentic life. Living your fullest most complete life is how you can help to make this world a better place. Where does that start? It starts by developing the talents and passions that were formed inside of you when you were young. It starts by making your creativity a priority. It starts by valuing yourself.
Is Art Useful?
My sister is a painter. She doesn’t paint professionally. I’ve often wondered why she’s never really given it a go because I think she’s quite good.
One day she was telling me about a business idea she had. She went into great detail about it and when she was done I asked her why she didn’t just sell her paintings.
“Because I want to make something useful. Art isn’t useful,” she said.
That stuck with me for a long time.
Art isn’t useful?
Each of us consumes art every single day of our lives. We listen to music, read stories, see paintings and photography everywhere. If art isn’t useful why is it so prevalent?
The artist fulfills a basic human need for beauty. The earliest humans painted pictures on the walls of caves and made necklaces from shells. They made up stories, played drums, sang, and danced.
We use art to connect with one another, imagine the unknown, express emotion, capture a moment in time. We use art to celebrate and to mourn.
Art is necessary…
Every afternoon I sit at my computer and type out another chapter to the novel I’m working on. No, I’m not curing cancer or coming up with a solution to global warming, but that doesn’t mean that the stories I write aren’t useful. If someone can come home from a stressful day at work, sit down with one of my novels, and relax for a while I’ve done my job. If they can read my book and connect to the characters, wonder what happens next, or be transported to another world, I’ve done my job.
When someone loves a painting so much that they want to hang it on the wall in their living room and see it everyday …
When someone listens to a song over and over again because it expresses the hurt in their heart more then their words ever could …
When a photograph makes you look at world from a new perspective …
When a sculpture makes you stop and take notice …
… art is useful.
… art is necessary.