Keep the Creative Fires Burning
When I was young, I rarely got more excited than when my Mother brought a bag full of construction paper and glue. Art supplies were in constant demand in my formative years. Sure, I enjoyed reading comic books and coloring in coloring books. But what really got me going was making my own comics and artwork. Back then, I would spend hours cutting construction paper and gluing it together, making landscapes with dinosaurs roaming the Earth. I’m sure in the closet at my Parents’ house, there are still notebooks of sketches and drawings, remnants of my youth. I borrowed my Parents’ movie camera and filmed stop-motion space epics with my Star Wars toys. When I was in Junior High, referred to as Middle School these days, I even worked on the school newspaper, producing a comic strip featuring the adventures of a dog named Spot in the spirit of the, at the time, wildly popular Garfield comic. I can still draw Spot to this very day.
Of course, society started stomping the art out of me somewhere down the line. They told me I would never make a living in arts or music. What I needed was a factory job. I firmly resisted these efforts to plug this square peg into any of those round holes. Even when I eventually had to work at the furniture factory for a few years, I still filled my evenings with my creative work, only this time it was of the musical variety.
All the while, I’ve had forces in my life, such as my parents and other authority figures, wondering when I would “grow up” and get serious about my life. This translated into, “When will you stop daydreaming and be a cog in the wheel like everyone else?”
My answer to that would be, “Hopefully, never.”
Decades later, I would finally break free of the rigid confines set before me by getting laid off and starting my own business as a web design company before later adding in online marketing. Of course, telling my parents I was now a web designer went over as well as if I told them I was a Martian. To this day, my Mother continues to try to find me a “real job.”
In any case, building my own business was exhilarating and kept my creative juices flowing. But I would be lying if I ever said it was easy. All the while, I have continued to stoke my creative endeavors, as if running my own business designing websites wasn’t enough. In addition, I’ve continued to create music as much as possible, although that slowed down during the pandemic.
Since the pandemic, I’ve been pushing my creativity in another direction by launching a series of thriller novels. It’s not that I don’t love music. But the pandemic pushed me offstage at a time when I also moved across the country. That, combined with the fact that I’m not as young as I used to be, left me wanting to focus my efforts on less performative art and learning the ropes as an Indie Author, as well as learning how much that has in common with my previous life as an Indie Musician has been enjoyable. I have other creative endeavors that I intend to unveil in 2024 if I find time. I hope announcing them in this post will speak them into existence. Only time will tell.
I wonder how far I’ll be able to push myself creatively. I’m certainly not as young as I used to be. But I’ve been able to continue to feel young at heart because I pursued my creative avenues. How much further could I have gone if, for so long in my life, every force seemed to conspire to crush the creativity out of me? Also, how many others were like me but fell under peer pressure to conform, grow up, get a job, and be “normal.” We must also question what kind of society we’re building if all signs of creativity and expression are discouraged.
As I age and gain the value of hindsight, I’ve decided never to settle for normal, and I will never tell anyone else to either. That goes for you as well. Whether it’s a friend, a child, or a loved one, we should aspire to help keep the fires of curiosity and creativity burning because I wouldn’t want to live in a world where we didn’t.
– Ryan
