Creativity

I subscribe to the gapingvoid email list. He sends a picture plus a thought every day. Not everything he sends is awesome, but he has a knack for striking a chord...for making me think.
I like that.

Anyway, here's an exerpt from the email today:
Whether we're artists, corporate managers, accountants or whatever, we all want to create; and we want to do it in a purposeful and meaningful way.
I learned the hard way that, as agreeable an idea "Creativity for its own sake" is, it's not particularly sustainable, financially rewarding or emotionally satisfying over the long run.
Human beings are hardwired to embrace "Creativity With Purpose"- i.e.create stuff that actually has real value to ourselves and other people. Creativity is tied into our evolution as a species and our basic survival instinct. It's there for a reason.

I have no doubt that this is why I enjoy doing many of the things I do.
Take, for instance, the soap I made on Saturday night.
That's right...soap.
To be honest, I'm not too hopeful that it'll be good stuff. But I've already learned from the process and I've already figured two things I can do to make for a better batch.
1. Boil the fat to clean it...this is called making "sweet lard" as opposed to that normal lard that comes on your bacon.
2. no more lining if I'm using cardboard or peel away boxes...it just gets in the way.

I got off on a soap tangent there, excuse me
The thing here...is that creativity is in my bones.
I'm much happier...in fact I'd argue that we are all much happier, when we are making and creating. But most of us have been brought up to think that failure isn't an option, so we are paralyzed by the fear of it. Paralyzed to such an extent that many of us never even start.
A friend asked how I learned to make my own bread. She was interested in doing it herself but wasn't sure how to go about it. When my explanation was that I looked it up online then just did it, her first response said everything "But what if you mess up?"
Right...good question.
What if I screwed it up, failed, bit it, took a complete nosedive...
I guess if I did that, then I'd have a manky bit of dough and would've wasted a whole 75¢ on materials. Also, I'd have a horrible black stain on my baking record.
My actual answer to her..."Do over, start again. Who cares if you mess up? It's cheap and easy and fun. Just try it."
Because here's the thing...when you're in the kitchen making bread, or well...whatever you're making...no one really cares if you screw up.
Well...as long as you don't actually burn the house down.
But yes.
At the end of the day, if you learn from it, that only means the next experience will be much better. And it's those successes...even the small ones...that everyone will remember.

Also...soap.


-maker