This Year, Create Something For Yourself
Creating art for others is nice, but what about you?
It can be a bit of a grind, sometimes.
Producing art, that is.
And it doesn’t matter what kind of art we’re talking about. It could be visual, audio, written, or a combination of any or all three. When we make a living producing art, content, or what-have-you, we’re often thinking of someone else — an audience — more than ourselves.
So it begs the question: Is that enough to be fulfilling?
For a while, possibly. But in the long run, we need to create something for ourselves.
As an example: I enjoy cooking. I can do some incredible things with roasts. I make a great apple cobbler. People fight over my clam cakes. Cooking, for me, is a form of art. It’s an act of creation.
But, man, it can be a grind when I’m churning out meals every day for the family. Don’t get me wrong, I love my family, but when art becomes a chore, a lot of the joy gets sucked out.
Breaking out
To combat this, I try to spend at least one day a week making something fancy for myself — even if it’s something no one else in the house likes. For instance, I’m a big fan of curry. No one else here is, but on Sunday, I’ll make up a big batch of curry or tikka masala to enjoy as a late lunch and as leftovers for the rest of the week. Oh, I’ll make the wife and child something as well. Omelets are popular on the weekends, but it’s the curry I look forward to. Or a nice chili or Brunswick stew.
As a writer, I push out a lot of content for a lot of different clients. This past month I’ve written about real estate, inheritance law, garage door maintenance, Gen-Z marketing, and other diverse topics. That’s what I get paid for.
But I’ve also written eight poems and a short story. Maybe someone else will see them. Maybe not. I wrote them for myself in between the paying gigs. I also wrote up an adventure for my Dungeons & Dragons gaming group. I even took the time to make it look like a published adventure. Writing the adventure was for the enjoyment of myself and my friends. Making it look like a published adventure was for my own satisfaction.
The idea is that all work and no play is going to dull your creative edge. This is bad for you, and it’s going to be bad for you as a professional creative further down the road.
Avoiding burnout
Artists of all types are forever at risk of burning out. We demand a lot from ourselves, and if we’re professional creatives, we have others’ demands as well.
To avoid burnout, you have to remember that you’re the one in charge of your creative output.
A good friend of mine, Brian, is a session musician living in Manhattan. You’ve probably heard his work without realizing it. He’s worked with some very big people in the music industry, but he’s not a “name” musician despite his in-demand talent. That’s just the way he likes it too. He’s all about the music but really dislikes being public about it.
Every year or so, Brian sends other friends and me a CD of work he’s created in his own little private studio. It’s good stuff. Great even. But you’re never going to hear it on the radio. He writes, performs, and records his music for his own enjoyment and as a way to keep himself fresh. That Brian shares it with a few others is nice, but we’re not so much the intended audience as he is.
Figuring it out
The best artists, writers, musicians, and creators I know have figured out the trick of dividing their resources. They make art as a way to make a living, but they also make art as a way to enjoy life.
If you’re feeling the grind wearing away at you…
If you worry about burnout…
If you fear you’re losing your love for your art…
Take some time to create just for you.
Forget others for a while. Write, draw, play, blog, paint, sculpt, film, build, or cook whatever you want. Enjoy your creations. Enjoy your process.
That will make it easier to create for others and keep you engaged, energized, and inspired for years and years to come.
Cheers!
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