a parable on the evolution of a creative idea:
The idea strikes. Gold! You’re inspired, excited, all feels possible.
Maybe you even tell a friend about it or announce it on Instagram.
And then you begin. You start creating.
You feel great for a bit, but then you hit a wall. It gets hard.
“This was a dumb idea. What was I thinking?”
You start scrolling through Instagram seeing people doing similar things, seemingly effortlessly. The dark cloud of self-doubt grows around you.
You realize how hard this is. The idea that once was ripe for picking, now feels way too far away, as if it were a piece of fruit up on a really high branch that you just can’t reach.
You’re afraid of heights.
This is the point at which most people stop in the creative process.
Will you stop? Or will you keep going?
Maybe it’s not about jumping up to reach that fruit that’s way up high, or attempting a dangerous climb to get there.
Maybe it’s about letting go of the idea of the fruit on the branch and just being with the trunk of the tree. Watering the roots. Leaning your back against it’s rough pillow. Enjoying the shade it gives you. Dancing in circles around it.
Maybe when you do decide to dance around that trunk - in a fit of passion when you don’t give a f$*% who’s watching or where you’re going, in that moment when you feel most wild and free - you’ll bump into the trunk accidentally and cause the whole tree to shake, letting that faraway fruit on the way-up-high branch drop to the ground before you. Effortlessly.
If the idea feels impossibly far away, dance where you are now.
It will always turn out different than you imagine.
And if you need a reminder, you know who to call.
to tree trunk dance parties all day,
Jess
