"Shouldn't you be a doctor or something?" is something a former classmate of mine asked me my senior year of high school when I told him I was going to college to study visual media and journalism.
My entire teenage existence was always leaning towards a more creative field, even though people would tell me I should do something else with my life. They would say that it was just a hobby. That I won't make any money or find any work. That I'm not good enough. That I'll change my major once I come back to reality and see how unreasonable it is to have a career in the arts. That it's just a phase. That I should be an engineer or a doctor like the stereotypical Asian. That I'm brave for choosing such an unstable future.
These are things family members, peers, friends, and even total strangers would say to me. I have thought many times that maybe they were right. That maybe I shouldn't have had so much blind faith. Maybe I should've gone into math or science. Maybe I really am not good enough to do this for the rest of my life. Maybe it's my calling to be something entirely opposite of what I thought I was. Maybe.
The Creator created creatives. So why should I dismiss the fire inside of me, the indescribable need to create and produce art, when I have been beautifully and wonderfully created by the greatest artist in all the world and beyond?
Any kind of artist is brave simply because of their passion. We choose passion over comfort, or hearts over our minds. We choose to welcome the instability in our futures with open arms instead of hiding away in routine and ordinary life.
We insist on looking at life, people, and things in new perspectives as often as possible and we use art forms to show everyone else what's going on in our colorful brains. It's a hard life and it proves to be challenging mentally, financially, and even physically. But it's always worth it. No one else really understands what I cannot explain and can only feel. The only reason other creative people that I've talked to get it is because they feel it too.
I've learned since coming to college that I need more creative people in my life that don't just support me, but create with me. It's toxic to be around people who doubt you and your calling and can't fully grasp why you are so set on going down this path. I no longer want to hear about how I shouldn't pursue art, or how I'm making a mistake, or how I'm going to regret it.
People like that only block the creative process and stop you from making what you want. Yeah, it's really hard to not feel like your creating doesn't matter because there's always someone who seems better than you. But art is what keeps some of us kicking and breathing. The act of creating is the calm in the chaos, and I wouldn't dream of doing anything else.
