Bill Watterson, creator of Calvin and Hobbes, offers a reflection on the joys and challenges of defining your own life and deciding what creativity and success mean to YOU, and not your co-worker, or your neighbor, or the person in line behind you at the grocery store. When my husband discovered this comic over the weekend, I asked if he could send it to me so that I could share it with all of you. He smiled and replied, "I sent it already. I knew you would like this one!" He knows me so well.
I often wish that there were a one-size-fits-all solution to my perpetual experiment in making a creative life for myself, that arrived in my inbox along with the rest of the correspondence with step by step directions, but there isn't. Whether I like it or not, a creative life cannot be constructed like a bookshelf or a desk that you bring home from the store; it does't fit neatly into a box, it doesn't come with the various parts labeled, and there are no instructions that guarantee results that will make you feel "finished". What works for a colleague or friend doesn't always work for me. Advice that resonates for someone else doesn't always crystallize for me. It's not fun all the time, but it's the way things work.
This week, I'm going to give myself some more time to reflect on what has worked for me so far in my playful path, things that aren't working for me, and areas and ideas that I still want to experiment with in the future. After all, let's not forget that this is what a creative life path really is: an experiment.
I'm the first one to get angry and disappointed when a strategy that has served me well in the past suddenly stops working the way it used to. I have a hard time accepting that things change, and those things include ourselves, our habits, and what we need to do in order to live a life that feels satisfying. I don't have concrete answers right now, but perhaps it's not about having all the answers right away, but about our willingness and curiosity to ask ourselves the questions.
I hope that this comic sparks something for you, and makes you think of a new way to look at the life you are building for yourself, or at least ask yourself a question that you haven't wrestled with yet. "What if....?" Fill in your own blank and see where it takes you. Take care of yourself and your creative gifts this week, my Friends!
I often wish that there were a one-size-fits-all solution to my perpetual experiment in making a creative life for myself, that arrived in my inbox along with the rest of the correspondence with step by step directions, but there isn't. Whether I like it or not, a creative life cannot be constructed like a bookshelf or a desk that you bring home from the store; it does't fit neatly into a box, it doesn't come with the various parts labeled, and there are no instructions that guarantee results that will make you feel "finished". What works for a colleague or friend doesn't always work for me. Advice that resonates for someone else doesn't always crystallize for me. It's not fun all the time, but it's the way things work.
This week, I'm going to give myself some more time to reflect on what has worked for me so far in my playful path, things that aren't working for me, and areas and ideas that I still want to experiment with in the future. After all, let's not forget that this is what a creative life path really is: an experiment.
I'm the first one to get angry and disappointed when a strategy that has served me well in the past suddenly stops working the way it used to. I have a hard time accepting that things change, and those things include ourselves, our habits, and what we need to do in order to live a life that feels satisfying. I don't have concrete answers right now, but perhaps it's not about having all the answers right away, but about our willingness and curiosity to ask ourselves the questions.
I hope that this comic sparks something for you, and makes you think of a new way to look at the life you are building for yourself, or at least ask yourself a question that you haven't wrestled with yet. "What if....?" Fill in your own blank and see where it takes you. Take care of yourself and your creative gifts this week, my Friends!
