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It's 5:00 AM on Friday, March 31st. I've been trying to write this “Adventures of the Creative” episode for the past couple of weeks, but of course, it hasn't come out yet. And I tried writing it on the Writing Pal yesterday, which is my word processor from the nineties, and it was just so blah.
The words were just not coming out right. And so I'm trying this with my voice again. And I guess that's one of the lessons of “Adventures of the Creative.”
Sometimes you just have to ride the waves of your creativity.
Now, of course, when there are deadlines, and you owe things to people, it's harder to do that, but you also have to give yourself some room and self-trust when something just doesn't feel right, like it can't just come out of you the way you want it to come out at the moment, then that's telling you that it's time for a break. But if you trust yourself to get back to it, if the work is meaningful enough to get back to, you will get back to it.
I will no longer do anything outside of joy.
I will no longer do anything that doesn't serve the purpose and the reason that I'm here in this life.
So my come to Jesus moment was when my husband and I were playing hooky, and we were driving home from Tahoe in the middle of the week, and as he was going over potholes and – actually – avoiding potholes cuz he's such a good driver. We were talking about what would make the world a better place, and he said democracy.
And look, I don't mean to, like, toot my own horn or anything, but I studied political science in college – and particularly the Democratic Peace Theory – and I love democracy. I love freedom.
But it's not . . . it's . . . but it's just the tip of the iceberg.
What I told my husband is that you can bring democracy to a country, but if the people within the country aren't ready to have that freedom, it's not going to be a democracy.
I am not gonna wax poetic on political systems because that's outside of my lane now. I'm a creative.
But what I wanna say is: to make the world a better place is to help at the individual level, to help people empower themselves enough to reach enlightenment.
People are seeking truth and meaning . . .
And then I realized during this precarious drive down the mountain, that's what I'm trying to do with WeXL, but instead of spreading religious beliefs, I'm doing it by spreading the joy in creating the value in going through the creative process of how that empowers you, empowers me as an individual. And then collectively that energy that we put into our creations, through the creative process of art making, of problem-solving, that collective energy – that's what's going to make the world a better place.
And so, here I am, waking up early in the morning – too early – and I like this. I like this way. I like the way I can just talk to you on my iPhone.
We can create anytime, anywhere.
That's power.
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Goldie’s Box of Tricks, Tools, and Treasures
Our voyage on The Creative isn’t always smooth sailing, but no worries! My imaginary friend Goldie comes around with her box of tricks, tools, and treasures to help make the journey full of joy.
This week in Goldie’s Box:
A Trick: When I need to get into the headspace for writing, I listen to the guided self-hypnosis, Writing with Flow, by writer, teacher, and hypnotist Jenny Bitner.
A Tool: I’ve been tracking my macro and micro caloric intake on My Fitness Pal. I use it not just for food consumption but also for meal planning. It’s fun to do it, and when I get bored of the same meals (which happens to me often), I can get creative and find equally-healthy substitutions.
A Treasure: I’m on my rewrites for my feature screenplay, Hope & Battle. The other night after my screenwriting class, I realized that one of the comps (movies that are like mine) is Good Will Hunting.
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