002 · Just doing it

Don't talk yourself out of creativity

Hi! It’s been a while. I’m so happy you’re here reading this.

If you’re wondering where I’ve been, I’ve been overthinking.

This update was supposed to come a lot sooner, and be a lot of different things it actually isn’t. I’ve been paralyzed by the complexity that could be involved in doing anything, especially in writing to you.

I’m here in an attempt to get over that hurdle, and to share some of my own thoughts on overthinking & production-based creation culture.

As you may already know, it’s very treacherous to be a person-making-things on the internet for a glut of reasons; navigating it often boils down to ‘do your best while incorporating repetitive advice from those more “successful” than you.’

Everything can be overthought, from research to iteration to creation to distribution, and every nook and cranny in between. I’m often caught up in scrutinizing my ideas through the lens of every person I’ve ever met’s eyes.

The act of creating something has the tendrils of ‘consumer’, ‘intention’, and ‘place in the world’ all throughout it before it ever has the chance to crystallize into something real. We could argue as to whether that compromises the integrity of purity of creation, but that’s another topic for another day. Why should we be concerned of the perception that stems far from our original concept?

I’ve been obsessed with providing value, feeling as if I’m not offering something of worth to others, like I’m not offering anything at all. This ignores any space for nuance, for people to derive their own meaning just from someone else showing up. Value, and by the same token, absence of value, are not absolute. The best we can do is show up with what we create, and allow other people to create their realities around that.

Worrying about proving my worth has gotten me into so much trouble at this point in my life. I’m tiptoeing around the mediocre “be yourself” or “be authentic” advice that is often offered without any regard to context, but there is absolutely merit in not allowing perception to flow upstream and pollute the source.

At risk of long-windedly repeating myself, it can be hard to make things, and even harder to share them. This is my encouragement to you, get things out of your head and let people interact with them as objects in the real world. Don’t put the perception-cart before the idea-horse.

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I’m back (I hope!) and looking to interact here more often. I have a least a baker’s-dozen ideas and I’m starting to solidify them.

Look out for part 2 to this piece in the coming month, in which I’ll share some of my favorite ways to materialize ideas and get over the perception hurdle.

If that interests you, let me know! If it doesn’t, let me know! In fact, let me know anything! I’m a person after all, and I’d hate for this to be another non-communicative internet avenue.

Eager to talk soon, go in peace.