Category: Transforming Pain

Think of some of your favorite things you’ve ever created in life—the things people will remember you by.

How much would someone have to pay you to remove that creation from ever existing in your life?

…The thing is: many of us are doing this daily. And for A LOT less than we think.

Think about how many creations have been “taken away” because of extra work or from bringing work home or from being too exhausted to create after work…

Think, too, about how long some of those favorite creations took you to make? …And how much you get paid per hour in your job/career? …And if that creation is worth that price?

For many of us… the answer would be an unwavering, “No.”

And yet… many of us continue to work for that hourly rate at the expense of the things we might’ve been so proud to have created.

This isn’t a call to quit your job. It’s a call to renew your commitment towards creation—in the time you can afford to budget… just like you do so vigilantly for your job.

Nobody is going to make the time for you—especially not your boss.

But if you can be your own boss and learn how to make the time for yourself again… what you might end up with is something far more valuable than anything your boss ever gives you in a check.

Traveling with a bunch of luggage is taxing.

Living with a bunch of baggage is taxing.

Creation… it seems to me…

Is a process through which the items in your metaphorical bags are unpacked… alchemized into some expressive medium… and left there once finished.

As writing an idea frees your mind from holding it any longer… creating frees your metaphorical bags from having to carry them any longer.

…For lighter, further, freer life travel.

You can assemble a car, but you can’t assemble a flower.

A flower can only be grown.

And when you rush the creative process, you start to assemble instead of grow.

Any internet skimmer, quick-fixer side-hustler, AI app can assemble.

…But what we need now more than ever are people who can grow.

I take my writing streak seriously.

And I can remember many nights when I would get home late, after an exhausting day, have nothing drafted, and be faced with the pain-staking decision of whether I should try to force a creation or rest.

…I can even remember nights when I would arrive to my computer at 2am, barely able to open my laptop, hunched so close to the screen that the blue light might as well have been injected right into my retinas, hazily and hastily trying to replay and recreate a moment or story from the day, one that I could squeeze a drop of insight from, from a frame of mind where all that seemed to be happening was an HD recording of the misery and toughness that I kept choosing to sit in moment after moment… after moment.

…And yet.

In those moments when I did see my way through… I never felt regret for what was created.

See there’s something whimsical and divine about creating in those spaces in between the awake and the asleep state.

…Where thoughts are free to merge together while floating in a dream-like haze.

…Where you’re too tired to care about rules… about perfection… about opinions.

…Where identity and brand melts away and pure life source and collective unconscious remains.

There’s no question that creating while well rested, organized, and motivated is effective.

And there’s no doubt that in many cases, rest will be the better decision made.

…But don’t underestimate the power and potential of creating while tired and near misery.