For well over a year, I blogged about my handbell composing career -- how things were going, what pieces I was writing, who had accepted which pieces. It was something I knew a fair bit about because I was living it.
Sadly, my life has limited appeal to anyone outside of, well, me.
Still, I kept with it, blogging when the urge took me (which, given that the topic of conversation was me, didn't happen nearly as often as you might think). And then a strange thing began to happen -- I found I had things to blog about that weren't dealing with handbells or music. Do I blog about those, as well? And if so, how?
The more I thought about it, the more I realized my blog needed a face lift, a revitalization -- in short, it needed to be something other than it was. Even then, it had to be about more than just me, because as has already been discussed, I am of very limited interest to anyone who is not within the confines of my head.
Finally, I realized what my blog needed to be about, a way to keep talking about my music and my writing, but also to share something meaningful and useful with my readers, something to help them in their lives.
I've known for a while what my purpose in life is -- I feel very blessed and fortunate to be one of those few who knows without a doubt why he was put on this Earth. I was put here to create things. So far, I have been exceedingly lucky that there are people out there who enjoy enough what I create to pay me for it, but creating things is the one thing I would do whether I made a living at it or not. It's in my blood -- I could no more not-create things that I could snap my fingers and transport myself to the far side of the moon.
That may sound egotistical, but I assure you it's not meant to. Creating things makes sense to me in a way nothing else in my life does. And yet, that which makes so much sense to me seems to stymie so many people that they shy away from ever creating things despite their deepest desire to write a novel, compose a symphony, sculpt the next David, or become the next Ansel Adams.
What perplexes me most is this: these same people who proclaim at the top of their lungs that they aren't creative, can't write a novel, could never sculpt -- these people use in their work-a-day lives the same creative tools they need to get that work of art done. Society has told us that writing, composing, sculpting, painting, and so many other endeavors are reserved for the elite few who "have what it takes". My friends, I am here to tell you that you all have what it takes to achieve whatever creative dream you have -- you only need to strengthen the creative "muscles" you already possess.
So therein lies the purpose of The Creative. I hope to use my understanding and knowledge of creativity to help each one of you achieve whatever creative dream you desire. If nothing else, I hope to help all of us become more creative with the small things in our lives, be it taking a new route home from work or tossing a new spice into an old recipe ... because here's the biggest secret of all: creative isn't something you are.
It's something you do.
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