To be a creator of anything, whether being a writer, artist, dancer, singer, etc. requires creativity, of course. Like all humans, creators have imagination but the huge difference is that most often than not, if not always, imagination is real life. As creators, we have ideas that we usually have to see come to life somehow. Of course, many of our ideas don’t ever see the light of day. Whether because we believe they were no good or because we didn’t have enough faith in that idea. And it’s hard to be the creative ones, more so because we have been criticized for not being practical, or shall we say because we don’t think about going after STEM careers. And I will be the first to admit that we need people in the STEM fields, I mean after all, they are what help maintain our quality of life. But unlike those paths, which kind of have a written guide of goals that need to be achieved, the creative field is a lot more complex.
There is one thing that both sides have in common: hard work. Whether there is a set path or not, nothing can be achieved with hard work. I’ve noticed though that many creative people may have great ideas but may not really know how to execute them. Whether this is because of procrastination or confidence, it’s important to learn what happens when things don’t go forward creatively. Personally, I haven’t been doing much creatively because I’m constantly in a cloud of uncertainty. This uncertainty then leads to procrastination, of the worst kind. I don’t feel productive anymore. And I think that it’s out of this procrastination and watching other people flourish that I’ve realized what I need to do to flourish myself.
The hardest obstacle of course, is myself. And that’s the truth for all of us. I’ve realized that even if I start now, I’m a late bloomer. But really there’s the other problem stunting my creative growth, that I feel that I’m too late. And I know that’s how many dreams go wasted, because someone somewhere told me and probably told you, that it’s too late to follow that crazy dream of yours. But it’s not true because at the end of the day, we all have our own timeline. And because of that, you’re the only one who can decide whether it is too late or not. Don’t even let the ones that love you the most discourage you because trust me, it’s harder when those people can’t cheer you on. And it’s not because they don’t want to, it’s because they don’t know how to. They may think they are thinking in your best interest but no one knows that better than you. You have to listen to yourself and to whatever longing aches you every single day. Like the wise Jim Carrey once said, “you can fail at what you don't want, so you might as well take a chance on doing what you love.” And the best part is that YOU determine what you do and how you do it.