Week 9: Self Play, the Innocent Kind ;)

Remembering how to play with yourself is actually really freaking hard! How long has it been since you took out that box of legos? Since you picked up a video game controller? Since you put together a puzzle!

For me, remembering that art = play is crucial in creating beautiful, and yes, SERIOUS works of art. The best thing about waking up sometimes is that I get to grab some colors and splash around on whatever I want. I can create a new world or try with all my might to capture some of the beauty of this one.

For a while during this program a little voice has muttered in the back of my mind:

“Are you more comfortable fearing success despite your failures, or being a victim of your own artist’s block?”
It’s not an easy question. It has taken 9 weeks of introspection and study to answer.

And the answer is:

I am more comfortable being afraid of the unknowns of success in creating, than I am being a victim of my own stubborn willpower to resist creating. I am more willing to try, over and over, and over again when something doesn’t feel right than I am willing to quit. Creative success is built by creative failures. It is built upon the bones of creative failures. How we survive these creative failures will determine our success in the future. If you resist the urge to do any work, you won’t actually get anywhere. So, despite your failures, keep trying. Master chefs cut many of their own fingertips before they became masters. 
 
“Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one’s courage”
~Anaїs Nin