Sometimes I want to change the world with dance.
And other times I just want to entertain myself.
Neither outcome is more or less noble, interesting, creative, or worthy.
In my opinion, what matters most is that simple act of exercising our ability to make something with this life we have.
But sometimes I catch myself being a little too precious with trying to make something profound.
I toil over getting the right words out in a blog post, or I try to make up a dance to a really deep song, imagining people reading or watching someday in tears as the meaning of life all becomes clear….
But really, Jess? [eye-roll to myself]
I end up clamming up and feeling rigid and trying way too hard, and in the end I just forget about it and go wash the dishes.
And then there are the nights where I’m simply bored.
There doesn’t seem to be anything interesting on Netflix. No one’s around to talk to. I’m sick of scrolling through Facebook. So I listen to music and start dancing. And then an idea comes - not because I tried to make it come, but because I wasn’t thinking about it.
Wouldn’t it be fun to do a remake of Gangnam Style!?
This literally happened a few years ago:
I got engrossed for hours with costume changes and mapping out the different scenes and dancing and setting up my phone camera to capture the right shots…
I was highly entertained and engaged.
A similar thing happened last night (with a random dance video remake that I may or may not share with the world....but subscribe to my YouTube channel if you're curious to find out!)
I realized how much I missed that process, how I’m actually craving more silly creative time, for no “purpose” but to have fun.
Just in case you were taking yourself too seriously, too, let this be your permission slip to entertain yourself.
You don’t need a profound reason to dance or write or make some kind of art.
Seek your own joy.
You may just stumble upon something that lightens you up.
Tell me -
Have you ever tried too hard to make your art profound?
What do you do to entertain yourself?
Keep the conversation going in the comments below.
woppum-gangnam style,
Jess
p.s. In case you're like - "Bored? Man, I wish I had time to be bored if I wasn't so damn busy all the time..."
- know that this post is especially for you. Sometimes you have to carve out time to be bored and give yourself permission to just do something with no purpose. From personal experience, I promise you it's worth it. ;)
