Creating is Akin to Growing

Is it worth writing a song if only a few people listen to it? Should you write a book even if only your friends and family read it? Why make and share photos if you only have a hundred followers on Instagram?

Many times the concern for recognition and success make us question the value of whether to do creative projects or ignore them. Projects that you have thought many times about doing, but have not launched for lack of time, shortage of money or, as I want to talk about in these lines, out of concern about whether it will be successful or a failure.

Success allows us to create more

It is a reality that if what you are trying to do is to make a living from your work: be it writing, composing, drawing or taking pictures; you are going to do everything possible to reach that minimum success by which you can live from your art. Ideally, achieving this situation, where your economic resources are produced thanks to your works, will make you more prolific, since you won’t have to diversify your time with jobs that are not related to your creative field.

But for the vast majority of people, this will not be the case. Not everyone is going to be able to leave their profession to start a career in a hobby they are passionate about. Not everyone will see the fruits of their labor equal to the effort they have put in. Not everyone will be on the highest pedestal of success.

And I’m not discouraging anyone who wants that kind of success. Nor am I discouraging the one who doesn’t know if he or she is going to get it. In fact, it’s important to understand that there will always be the potential to get closer to making a living at what you love.

But what I want to point out is that starting a creative project from the prism of success, and all the pressure that comes with it, can mean that you never give it the chance it deserves.

Create for the love of art?

And here comes what I consider the most beautiful part of art or creative projects: the artist creates because he wants to, often with no other need than the very existence of his creation. As opposed to the one who starts because he is tempted by a successful path, the true artist starts because he needs to see his work finished.

Some may call it passion, others talent, others something like «the spark». The important thing is to realize that in the creative process there will be projects that we want to do for no other reason than the mere fact of wanting to create them. It happens to me that I accumulate many ideas, and often, the most personal ones have that aura of wanting to do them even if they are not going to have a great impact. For example, I would like to finish a book of poetry and photography that I started as a gift for dear people, because I was attracted by the idea of publishing something that would show me vulnerable to others.

This way of embarking on something is extremely valuable, because externally it may seem like a «bad idea», or a «project with no potential for success». But it is precisely in contrast to these arguments that we find the purest reason to create something.

The voices of «no”

We sometimes characterize what others tell us as the voices of reason. That others question the potential of our works, seems to justify some common sense: «why design clothes in this style if no one is going to buy them,» or «why play that instrument, if no one listens to it.»

Sometimes it is easier to ignore other people’s reasoning than your own. That’s why the voice you have to take care of the most is the one that comes from yourself. And it’s not so much a voice, but a dialogue. Part of you will see the reasons to start a project; part of you will find all the reasons not to start. You decide who you give the floor to the most.

I’m not saying that the creative process is just a matter of getting started. Even if the process is full of roadblocks, doubt, and uncertainty, it is comforting to think that at the core of our motivation we can find the inherent desire to want to see our ideas come to life.

To create is to grow

Within this framework of pure motivation, the artist’s job is to go from the intangible idea to the tangible and real work: the painting, the photo, the novel, the podcast…. Any process that takes us from the invisible to the visible will have a real impact on us.

No matter what art or hobby you are building, the person you were when you started that work is going to be different from the one who finishes it. And that’s amazing.

But why would I be a different person?

If we take life as a learning journey, we will always be in a process of discovery, which feeds back into what we learn as we move forward. In the paradigm of art, there are infinite lessons about the creative process, and that’s what this blog is about: lessons of all kinds that we learn in the making of our work. The one that concerns us now is the idea of challenge.

Every creative process has its challenges. Broadly speaking, overcoming a challenge is overcoming a problem that prevented you from finishing your work, either due to external factors (no free time, your family is against you…) or internal ones (lack of inspiration, confidence, mastery…). And it is in that specific necessary lesson in your process to overcome the challenge where the growth lies. 

For example someone who has to limit their leisure time to play the drums better may learn about sacrifice and perseverance, or about how to prioritize something important over what others usually expect of you, or they may also learn about the balance they need in life so they don’t succumb to their obsessions. Each person will have the potential to learn a valuable lesson when they need it most.

Get to creating, whatever it is

I encourage you to start, continue or finish your creative projects. It doesn’t matter what field it is in. Because someone who has had to go through the journey of creating something entirely their own is going to move forward in life’s journey. It doesn’t matter if you are commercially successful or just read by your friends. What you create, if you do it with sincerity, will always be important.

For some it will simply be about improving the understanding and capabilities of their art; for others, about getting closer to the success they’ve always wanted; for me personally, each creative project hid a lesson I needed at that moment in my life. The challenges I encountered in the process were nothing more than an extension of my limitations, and therefore an opportunity to learn to overcome them.

Embark on that which needs no other reason than your deep desire to see the idea realized. We must trust that if we do this, we will see how our work will gain a value that no success or recognition can replace.