Tuesday, October 4, 2011

"It's not a gift, it's a curse" ("Hereafter")



What annoys me beyond believe is "How to be (or stay or become) creative" tips. Dear people: if you are not creative, praise the Lord and go get your accountant license and make your family very happy. Seriously. Because, being creative is probably the least useful thing to have if you want to succeed in life. Being creative is necessary only if you already have a sweet job as an advertising executive of something. But if you don't - please, use that part of your brain for something good and practical: like remembering recipes or math.

Look at me: I am creative - no shit. Where did it bring me? I am up at 5 AM and I can't fall back to sleep because my head is exploding with the whole flock of new ideas I can't wait to try. I always have a number of projects in line and I have the same number of hours in a day as any person who doesn't have an idea generator in their brain.

Would anybody pay for my ideas? No. Most of them are totally commercially barren. Worse: the more intricate and original the idea is - the less probable it's commercial success. Because it is outside of the normal flow of life and nobody will pay for anything that doesn't support the normal flow of life. On the other hand - many would pay to the good and accurate accountant.

So, in conclusion: when you are raising your child please don't encourage him or her to be creative; insist on developing diligence and attentiveness, ability to stick to the plan and patience instead. Support developing social skills, make them do something with their hands. It's good when a person have a lot of friends and able to cook a dinner for them. It's even better if a pers can hold a steady job. To hell with creativity. Creativity make you jobless and constantly unsatisfied. And in most cases divorced three times. Cause I married an angel who can patiently endure my... ahem... lifestyle, and there are not many of them.

"It's not a gift, it's a curse", - Matt Damon said in that movie "Hereafter" (and by the way: when I am watching the movie I usually come up with a few better twists and endings which spoils the heck out of it). Same with creativity. When you feel not particularly creative: rejoice and go play outside. Your windows might need to be washed, carpet need to be cleaned. I know mine are.

6 comments:

  1. sad but true... no brain, no pain.

    Do not give up, girl!
    And you're damn lucky, you have the patient Angel! :)

    what about get hired by a company? can you stream your inspiration in a certain direction a customer may want?

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  2. Heh, I do my best to be as commercial as possible. Actually, it's all a matter of self-discipline. I bet there are many very creative people who can bottle their creativity when it's necessary, and pack and ship it and sell it to clients :)

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  3. being a freelance you gotta have guts; I had quit it because I do not have talent or nerves for it, back to corporate 9 to 5, because now I know WHY I like it.

    And that's why I like engineering: it's creative enough but it's not THAT exhausting as being a true artist...

    Good Luck! You gotta do what you gotta do. That's why you learn what you do not want to do :) And then enjoy the rest :)

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  4. Ahhh, so true. I am in the same train, and I totally and fully understand you. Especially the part with no sleep and of course the next one - the uncommercial one...

    I am not sure that a creative person can raise their child to become pragmatic, really. And if the child becomes one, I highly doubt they will ever have anything in common. I guess the parent will be constantly disappointed or something like that.

    I also prefer communicating with creative people, simply because it charges me. Imagine a talk with an accountant... how very imaginative!

    And, excuse my scattered thoughts, it's almost 1 AM here but I have to say this: I just got off a page, where I read that in this short life, we'd better do what we love... it's not all about the money, after all (although money helps).

    I am off to bed now, because 5 o'clock is near :))

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  5. i'm in the same boat too, i love drawing but i can't make a living off it. however i believe that creatives are the best people in the world, we see everything differently and are wonderfully unique. even if you feel useless as a creative if you're doing what you love then you're being useful to yourself. your work rocks don't give up :)

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  6. Thank you for commenting, ladies! :) See: you know what I am talking about! But you know: I am lucky to know a few people who claim to be "totally not creative" (engineers, scientists, social workers) - and really I enjoy talking to the, they are interesting people who knows a lot about life and the world around us. And I can't help but thinking that they do much more useful things that I do and ever will be doing. They actually help people and build things.

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