Listening to My Own Creative Intuition
It NEVER ceases to amaze me how I come upon hearing or reading just the right thing at just the right time. It's been happening a lot in my life lately, and I'd like to think it's not just simple serendipity (although I DO LOVE that movie!)
Tonight I came upon this quote by Harrison Ford:
All I would tell people is to hold onto what was individual about themselves, not to allow their ambition for success to cause them to try to imitate the success of others. You've got to find it on your own terms.
See, I'm right in the middle of this creative metamorphosis where I'm coming to realize this all on my own. But to have it reaffirmed by such a successful actor is a welcome feeling of validation.
It's hard to put into words really... what I'm thinking and feeling these days about my creative journey. It makes for a challenging blog post, but I'm going to try nonetheless. What do you get when you combine equal parts self-confidence with self-consciousness? Mostly a frustratingly journey of starts and stops where I've found myself quickly motivated and inspired by others "success" only to feel empty and lacking of my own.
It's gotten quite exhausting really. And not to mention expensive. I've paid for courses, bought books, paid for software... all thinking those things were going to help me find what I was lacking/missing/needing.
When the truth is, all I need to do is like Mr. Ford says: stop looking to others, and start looking within.
So that is what I have been doing more of lately than ever before. I've stopped listening to all the noise out there. The "experts" the "other successful people" "the quick fix" and just gone quiet. I've reflected about how I've accomplished big things in my life so far, whether it was graduating from college, moving out on my own, launching my own freelance career. What were the common themes that made me so confident in those journeys? How can I learn from those experiences and apply them to what I am dealing with in my creative life now?
The answers are there. I know they are. I just need to be brave enough to hear them.
