The need for artistic expression comes from having something inside of us that has to get out.

We have so much creativity inside of us waiting to be released. When circumstances get in the way and we’re not being creative, it affects us. It’s almost painful- almost physically painful, definitely mentally painful- when we’re not able to release this creativity.

Do you get it?

You just can’t walk around shaking your head all the time when all that creativity keeps getting pushed down. You gotta have the outlet. It’s gotta come out. It’s just gotta come out.

Elbert Hubbard said, “Art is not a thing; it is a way.”

For some of us, art goes way beyond something we do in our spare time. Creating gets down inside of us until it becomes part of who we are. There is this need to make something, to take what’s rolling around inside of us and give it somewhere to go.

And when life gets in the way of that, we feel it.

Why Does This Matter So Much?

Why should being unable to create hurt in the first place?

Because creative work can become tied to our sense of purpose. It matters to us beyond the thing we’re making. Life demands our attention, and sometimes it takes us away from the work we desperately want to do. That’s where the struggle begins. Something critical to us is waiting, and we know it’s waiting.

It’s not a simple question of ‘What do I want to make?’ Instead, it is ‘What matters enough that I give part of my life to it?’

Every free moment I have is spent working on some level of creativity. And it’s like a wellspring into my being. My very essence is part of letting this stuff out and creating and building.

What happens when creating becomes part of how someone recognizes themselves?

Maybe that’s why this gets so deep. Creating isn’t just something we do. It’s part of who we are. When we’re making something, we’re letting that part of ourselves breathe. And when we don’t, we recognize the void.

Fanaticism

Here’s a question: Is creating so bound up with being fully alive that prolonged separation from it feels like something inside you is dying?

Ask Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi.

In 2010, he was sentenced to six years in prison and banned from making films for twenty years.

He kept making films.

Panahi has said it much more directly: “I’m a filmmaker. I can’t do anything else but make films. Cinema is my expression and the meaning of my life.”

He went even further. He said that when restrictions were placed on him, “the necessity to create becomes even more an urge,” and that he had to keep making films in order to “feel alive.”

I would like to think I am fanatical, but Panahi calls into question how far any of us are willing to go to live our art.

When Creativity Becomes Part of Who We Are

I was discussing this post with a close friend and mentor. What he said was profound.  “Our creative outlet is part of our self-respect.”

Self-respect? Yeah, self-respect.

That’s the nail on the head. Are we really worth less because we’re not creating? Of course not. Life happens. There are times when creating simply cannot come first.

Self-respect enters the picture when we know this is part of who we are and we keep walking away from it. Not for a day or a week, but long enough that we start wondering what happened to that part of ourselves.

That’s a different kind of loss. A loss I know all too well. 

It goes deeper. Circumstances are one thing; abandonment is an entirely different issue. And it often feels like circumstances are forcing the abandonment. That’s a killer. 

I found an interview with a dancer named Kelly, and all I could was to say, Amen. She had been seriously injured. Making a living from dance was difficult, so she made the practical decision to stop dancing and focus on earning a stable income.

Smart. Reasonable. Common sense takes precedence.

But listen to what happened when her art was put aside.

“When I stopped dancing, I realized that I couldn’t feel myself, I couldn’t feel anything in life.”

I grieved with her. I know that kind of loss.

Sometimes Something More Important Comes First

One of my other friends is a collaborator, and he’s had to face some real relationship challenges with the loss of a dear loved one. He cared for this person for several years, making it the forefront of his life. 

And now that person is gone, there’s a huge loss in his heart. 

But he gets to reboot his musical journey. The challenge is that those years can’t be reclaimed. He can only pick up where he left off. At least he has time now. He can take himself back.

This Isn’t Just Me

The more creatives I meet, the more I realize I’m surrounded by people who refuse to let this part of themselves die.

There are a lot of resolute folks out there pushing for it.

They have jobs. They have bills. They get discouraged. They make things nobody notices. They wonder if any of it is going anywhere. And somewhere in the middle of all that, they find a way to keep creating.

Why?

That’s the question, isn’t it?

Something inside of us refuses to leave it alone.

This is creative life in the real world. It isn’t romantic. Sometimes it hurts. Sometimes something else has to come first. Sometimes the work sits there waiting for us.

But it doesn’t go away.

Neither does the need to get it out.

Can We Help You?

What happens to you when the part of you that needs to create has nowhere to go?

Continue The Journey

Your time matters. The time you spent here with us matters too. We are grateful.

If something in these words connected with you, share it. Tell us about it in the comments. And if you haven’t already, subscribe to Mack-n-Cheeze Music.

Thank you for being here. Thank you for reading. And most of all, thank you for sharing this creative journey with us.

Because sometimes the wisest person in the studio has four paws.

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