read time: 3.6 minutes

song: silence

i read in a book recently that we (as humans, creatives, and thinkers) — ought to be taking time to write daily. and while, i write an overwhelming amount of content each day that gets read on various platforms – i feel as if i don’t write for the mere purpose of writing anymore. meaning, i don’t write aimlessly. i am always writing for something, for someone, or for some specific reason.

and i can’t help but feel that i am going to miss out on something.

let me clarify — i’m not experiencing FOMO or anything like that. but it’s more of the idea of — what will happen if i never give my mind the space it needs to wander and explore? and what would happen if i do— what ideas will i come up with? what breakthroughs will i discover? what problems will i solve?

i don’t know about you — but, for me, everything i do has a reason. and the things without reason — well, it doesn’t take long for me to give them purpose.

take for example @peptothetalk. they started out as pep talks to myself, then text messages to my friends, then emails to my subscriber, and now it’s an instagram account (which i love). see what i mean? everything i do quickly purposed for something greater.

i’m a serial creator. i create, create, create. it’s not to say that the habit of giving things reason and meaning is bad (quite the contrary, i think it’s wonderful!). but, while i’m lying here in bed suffering from yet another night of insomnia — i’m realizing, we need to do things just for the mere sake of enjoyment. we need to make just because we enjoy making. we need to create just for the satisfaction of creating. we need to write for the mere love of writing. we need to dance just because it makes us feel good. we need to cook just because we love it.

i could be totally wrong and take this back two blogs from now — but, i feel like when we begin to create for the mere pleasure of it rather than the idea of having to “produce” — we’ll find ourselves stepping into a new realm of creativity because we’ve given ourselves the opportunity to wander deeper.

in college, i started getting in the habit of writing. i’d write in rabbit trails. maybe i’ve mentioned this in my writings once before. but, i’d start writing about a topic, set the timer, and when the timer went off— i’d stop writing. the next day, i’d pick up exactly where i left off.

the writings were less linear and cohesive and more chaotic like a rabbit trail of thoughts and ideas. and while, if you were to put them into a book it’d be pretty darn hard to create chapters for them — i always thought that i’d be the most amazing book. mostly because it didn’t matter what page you opened to — you’d get something from any page of the book. if i’m being honest, looking back at that season of life— i felt like my mind was always exploring and that i was giving my person the ability to think about things that i normally wouldn’t have made time for. it was the season that i attribute to stepping to my creativity.

i want that season again. i want a new season of creativity and fresh ideas.

while in cuba, i came to the realization — i don’t give myself enough time to do this — to just wander, write, read, and create just because i enjoy it. everything is tied to a production list. one of the mantra’s i keep chanting to myself is is, “be more, do more”. i always want to be more so that i can do more. but in truth, we cannot be more if we never give our inner-selves the freedom to explore, wander, and discover.

the creative truth hit me the other day — being playful and enjoying what we do is essential if we desire to step into a new realm of creativity, if we desire to be more, and do more.

so, in the effort to be more and do more in twenty-seventeen — i’m starting back up my daily writing routines just for the mere sake of giving myself the space to create for no reason.

i’m taking the pressure off myself to be anything, making anything specific, or getting tied up in a to-do list… and giving myself the room to just write for writings sake.

and, maybe, along the way — we’ll both learn something new.

perhaps some writings will serve no purpose towards the greater good. perhaps some will be full of grammatical errors that my sister will be mortified over. perhaps some will be drenched with insight while others may be showing my humanity.

whatever happens, i hope it’s good.

_____

what about you? do you feel like you give yourself the time and freedom to be explore and create just for the sake of creating? if not, why?

how would your life benefit from you giving yourself the space to create out of enjoyment? 

writing time stamp:

december 21, 2016 at 12:46 AM