Big Magic!
This book is for anyone. Anyone who would like to bring more creativity in to their life whether they work in a creative field or not. And if you do work in a creative field ... well, there is no excuse!
Maybe I just happened to read this book at just the right moment, maybe it was coincidence, maybe it was fate. All I know is that since reading this book so many thoughts and ideas have fallen in to place.
Gilbert talks about the idea that ideas aren't generated by people but are their own entities floating around the world looking for someone to manifest them. It may sound a bit airy fairy in concept but I love it. One of my biggest worries as a creator is not having any ideas, and it terrifies me. However, believing in this concept takes all of the pressure off. I am not trying to generate really cool innovative ideas. All I have to do is let them come to me. To be open and responsive to the ideas. So, that is just what I did. And in the month or so since I started reading this book I have had so many ideas! Ideas for pieces, for projects. Tiny little nuggets of something that will need a lot of thought and development. Full blown concepts for pieces I want to create.
I choose to believe in this concept because it takes the pressure off me to generate and leaves me open to ideas just flowing in.
Gilbert also talks about having other creative endeavours. So, when the ideas aren't ready to be manifested or haven't found you yet you are still living in creativity. I am a dance artist. That is what I do and what I create. I also have many other creative outlets. Outlets that don't have any pressure because they are there for me to experiment and help me to connote to create.
I restarted this blog because of just that. At some point in my blogging journey I started to think about if and how I could get a following, how I could make money, how I could connect and be involved in the blogging world. It just added more stress to my life which was not at all why I started blogging in the first place. Trying to write and post on the same day every week. Thinking about what I was writing to 'keep on brand'. It was too much on top of my work in the dance industry which can be stressful at the best of times.
So I stopped. All together. I stopped writing.
But I missed it. I missed this creative outlet that I love but don't want to make a career out of. I just want to do it because I like doing it. So, I have started again. With no pressure. I won't post regularly, I will post when I have something I want to say. I won't have a brand, I will say whatever it is I want to say, regardless of if it relates to any other post. And that's OK. Actually, it is more than OK.
This morning I repainted my noticeboard to go with my room. It will be a place to put my ideas when they come to me, so they don't get forgotten. Last month I finished a blanket that I had been making for my brother out of his old football shorts that he grew out of. That was a challenge but I loved the process. Now I want to start one for myself out of the fabric I bought in Ghana. These creative ideas and endeavours are only for me and the ones close to me. That is all they will ever be and that is fantastic.
Of course Gilbert talks about many other concepts. I feel like I need to read it again just to be able to absorb everything.
I am leaving this here for you. Read it, or don't. Maybe it is the right time, may be not. Thats ok.
But personally ...
I vow to myself that I will always live a creative life as these are the things that bring me utter joy.
Thank you Elizabeth Gilbert for this gem of a book.
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