The desire
to create lives within the souls of millions of people. From
photographs to music to paintings to literature, and a wealth of
beauty in between, that need to do something
can be painful. It's a pain that lives deep within a person, a knot
that won't go away until something is done.
Once the paintbrush is picked up, or the pen is put to paper, the
ache begins to dull, fading to a dull throb. The ache remains like
that while the creator is doing what they need to do. Once they leave
that beautiful place, they find the pain returning, only to die down
once they're back doing what they're called to do.
I felt like that for a long time. This summer has been the first one
in four or five years that I've been able to sit back and enjoy. I
haven't been desperately trying to get something started. I haven't
felt like I'm racing against a mythical countdown that I only I can
sense. For the first time in a long time, I feel a sense of peace and
completion, as though that clock has, for the moment, either stopped
or paused. To be able to relax and breathe has been a blessing this
summer.
I've enjoyed the sun. I've spent time in the garden. I've delighted
in walking among the trees. I've explored new places and drank in the
warm air of a summer's evening. For now, it's nice to rest and relax
and not have to worry about creating. While the sun still burns high
in the sky, creating can take a back seat.
And
it's been good for me on a creative level, too. Seeing the world
through fresh eyes has allowed me to see old projects through fresh
eyes, too. It's allowed me to make notes on other projects that I'd
like to begin, or to branch out and start dabbling on those projects
that I swear I'll do if only I had the time. But, for the past three
years, my mind has been focused on that perpetually ticking clock,
the clock which has pushed and pushed me to do something.
Now I feel that I have done that something
and I can do other things while publishers decide where its new home
will be.
Whenever that urge hits, follow it. Create something beautiful and
don't stop until it's finished. Put it out in to the world and see
what happens. You never know what will happen when you pick up a pen,
or a paintbrush, or a guitar, and do something amazing.
