is it okay to create when you aren't inspired?
waiting for inspiration, saying yes to this version of you
Is inspiration necessary in creating?
I remember in elementary school, we were learning about writing a traditional haiku- a three line poem with certain number of syllables per line. I think my teacher meant to teach us about syllables, but wanted to make it fun. Either way, I recall an activity she had us do. She had us scan the classroom and pick any object to focus on and that would be our haiku subject. I wrote a 3 line poem about an eraser. Yes, so very ordinary.
Since then, I found writing about ordinary objects to be fun. I learned how to pay attention closely, no matter what it was.
I recently looked through some of my writing notebooks from about 6 years ago where I jotted words, phrases, lists, run-on sentences and what I noticed was that most of these words and stories came out of ordinary days, doing ordinary things, in ordinary places. I didn’t go out to find inspiration because I just enjoyed writing. I don’t think I even went back and re-read for clarity, language, or flow. I just wrote to write. I barely revised- I know, call me a bad writer.
Here are my notebooks with very uninspired writing. Words of the ordinary life, mostly when I wasn’t feeling too good, sad and depressed images, angry words.
Ignorance is bliss, some might say. When we learn what it’s supposed to look like, we resist in creating because we believe it’s no longer good enough.
This is what happened. Once I decided to take my writing seriously- seriously meaning I wanted to write to be published one day. You would think this should have motivated me, but what happened was I got the case of “I am not inspired to write.”
Suddenly, ordinary spaces looked too ordinary, not good enough to make anything out of. So then, we look for inspiration that we hope will transform our work into note-worthy.
I used to think inspiration was everything. So when I wasn’t swept away to write, I waited for inspiration to come. And when it didn’t, I would use tools that could spark interest like going to an art museum, watching a movie, or reading a book totally out of my genre. Yes, there is something to be said about sparking that fire in us to inspire us again and I absolutely believe in inspiration’s ability to pull something out of us when we are feeling stuck.
And, I also see the dangers of waiting for inspiration as the only path to making something worthy as if something is wrong with us when we are uninspired. When we feel quite neutral. When we feel just okay.
words for when we need courage to create, even here
Is it okay to make just okay art, or take a just okay photo? Is it bad to create from an uninspired space? What role does commitment play in our creation when we aren’t inspired?
We need to value commitment and discipline just as much as we value inspiration. Discipline that is not out of duty, but discipline that comes from freedom and compassion. To create (whatever that is for you) because you get to, not because you have to are two different perspectives. You get to make what you want, experiment with what you want-
you get to make things even when you are feeling just okay. To create out of compassion is to see ourselves as human and not labeling the work as “bad” vs “good”, or “creative” vs “not creative”. Are we giving ourselves permission to create when we aren’t feeling our best? Or, are we depriving ourselves of this good work because we don’t look our best?
Last year, I went to see Van Gogh In America exhibit at the DIA and the works that caught my eye the most were his earlier creations. This one in particular titled Sorrow was created after 2 years of declaring he would be an artist. This is before The Starry Night and Self-Portrait, which are some of his most famous works and works we recognize as Van Gogh.
I wondered what Van Gogh would be thinking right now if he were here to see all of his works in one room. Would he be embarrassed by his earlier works when he was just beginning? Or, would he look at his art with curiosity, compassion, and love and be reminded of how many lives he has lived. How many versions of himself he had carried with him.
We wait for inspiration because we so badly want to create “inspired” work. But what if this moment, this version of yourself today is just as good? What if the purpose is to make this version because it’s honest and true?
This version of you today doesn’t need inspiration’s approval to keep going, keep creating. Whatever we are making are footprints after another, anyway.
Here’s to making stuff from a space of where we are, not where we want to be, knowing that this version of us is beautiful.
And, if your uninspired self is asking you to take a break from it all together, that is creation too. Listen.
hope you take good care (especially with day light savings),
kyunghee