A Fresh Start

Photo by Mike Tinnion on Unsplash

Question for you: Do you consider yourself a creative? What keeps you creating?
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I shared this on social media in early May... but forgot to share this on my blog until now.

There’s something so beautiful about having a fresh start. A blank sheet of paper. Nothing, but everything in front of you all at once. Endless possibilities awaiting your input. Will you deliver? What will you deliver?

Watch yourself dangle over the edge.... on the precipice of something huge, ordinary, insignificant, or nothing at all.... Guided by your choices and a healthy dose of chance - who knows where you’ll end up?

It can be a frightening experience to direct things around and watch something you’ve created evolve beyond what you could have ever imagined. But that is the way of the universe. You’re in control. But you’re not. Your work takes on a life of its own. There’s this complex interaction between what you intend to create... what you end up creating.... and how the rest of the world sees and responds to it.

Photo by Simon Migaj on Unsplash

You may have a tried and true, systematic approach and decades of experience to back it up, but that doesn’t mean you know what it is that you’re doing or can predict the end result. The creative process, like life itself, is unpredictable. Sometimes, it’s best to release yourself from personal responsibility, go with the flow, and see where the current takes you.

Plenty of times in the past, I have set out to write something I expect to go in a very distinct direction, but then it deviates. I’ve found that I can’t expect to fully know what I’m making until I’ve made it. And even then, I may find myself surprised by how others respond to it.

I’m in control. But I’m not. There’s soooo much to be discovered along the way. And that’s what keeps me creating again and again and again. There’s something so beautiful about having a fresh start.... not knowing how the blank sheet of paper in front of you will fill with words or what those words will be.