Creativity is complicated. If you’ve got any sort of artistic impulse, you often find that the urge to give in to that instinct tends to fade away when you realize that you may not make a living doing what you love. As far as you’re concerned, if you can’t find a career that corresponds to your artistic inclinations, you shouldn’t bother acknowledging them at all.
Unfortunately, such an attitude will do little more than prevent you from enjoying the most enriched life you could possibly have. If you possess any sort of desire to create any sort of art, you should feed that desire as much as possible. Doing so will. . .
Enhance Your Skills
No matter how much you may want to be an artist, you can rarely succeed as one – on either a personal or professional level – without much practice. While there have, in history, existed geniuses who were able to master a craft with little effort, most of us aren’t that brilliant. We want to be a great writer, or painter, or composer, but we aren’t going to reach our goal without working towards it.
True, you may not end up making money doing the work that matters to you, but you most certainly won’t if you don’t put in the time to develop your skills.
Heal Your Mind
The urge to create art indicates that the individual feeling this urge has something to say. By not indulging in your creativity, you are essentially biting your tongue, refusing to let loose the insights you feel an unshakeable need to share. This will only lead to stress. Granted, just because you feel the need to say something, doesn’t exactly mean you should – the art you create does not need to be shared if you end up understanding that the message behind it isn’t something you think others need to hear – but by not at least giving yourself the chance to commit your thoughts to a permanent, clear form, you deny yourself the mental health that comes with speaking your mind.
Enjoy Your Life
The creative act is, almost always, a joyful experience. Yes, it can involve torment, yes, it can involve tearing at your own soul to bring to light the darker feelings lurking below the surface of your mind, but in the end, the time you spend creating a work of art is time that it generally enjoyable.
Life itself isn’t always that fun. The work you do to earn an income can be difficult, the relationships you have with others may be stressful, and the way you feel about yourself isn’t always positive, but the art you create will bring you happiness.
Focus Your Intention
We must always understand that we can’t exactly expect to make money as an artist. It’s possible to do so, but you’re certainly not doing yourself any favors if you think there’s a guarantee that your skill will turn a profit.
Then again, if you fail to follow your passion at all, you’ll notice that you lose that driving force that motivates you to live your dreams. By continuing to give in to your artistic sensibilities, you keep that flame ignited. You remind yourself, each and every day, why you truly wake up in the morning.
Explore Your Soul
When we set out to create a work of art, we may have an intention in mind, but those who truly give in to the creative process often find that they discover shades of their minds, bodies, and souls, that they didn’t know existed. The message you meant to express evolves into something new and compelling.
This is always a fulfilling and worthwhile experience. Yes, life is best when we spend time to learn about the various cultures, thoughts, and beliefs that are foreign to us. However, we may not realize that within our own identities, there are such foreign ways of seeing the world.
By creating art, we allow ourselves to meet these new perceptions, enriching our overall experience, not only of the world, but of our own lives.