Over the Hustle: Rediscovering Creativity
I am so over the hustle. There is nothing inspiring about the daily grind, the inundation of news and noise and information I don’t really want yet keep consuming like a spoon fed baby in a highchair. I want my peace back, my propensity toward rest and creativity. And I’ve gone searching for it . . .
So, where does creativity hide? Well, I found it, so I’m happy to show you where it is. I’ll even give you directions, the kind with landmarks and looking out the windshield for signs. In fact, turn off your GPS. Just make a hard left off the mainstream of production and consumption and wind down this little backroad with me and let’s see where it wanders.
As Far as the Calendar Stretched
I looked up recently from all my doing and producing and consuming in search of a single date I could set aside for rest, particularly emotionally and spiritually. I shaded my eyes with my hand and looked as far as the calendar stretched, but all I saw in front of me was more to do, more to resolve, more to comfort, more to care for.
That’s exactly the problem, isn’t it? There is always something, and so I’m always busy. Production and consumption are stifling my creativity. I’m not resting, not emotionally or spiritually. So it’s no wonder creativity is so elusive then—because rest is precisely where creativity dwells.
Rest is meant to be more than recharging and refueling for the next cycle of getting stuff done. It’s certainly meant to be more than the reluctant result of burn out, overworking, and overindulging. Rest is designed to be a place of observation, of expression, of praise, of play, of gratitude, of presence, of spirituality, of creativity.
The Value of Having Nothing to Do
When I was a mother of young children, I recall the pressure to entertain them, to keep them busy and engaged so they weren’t idle or bored. It was only when I remembered being bored as a child and teenager myself that I drop-kicked the demand to entertain my own children and remembered the value of having nothing to do.
What did I do as a youth when I was bored? I listened to music (on albums and cassettes) and read all the lyrics and artist’s notes. I read books (including dictionaries and encyclopedias), wrote in journals, painted, doodled, and prayed. I let my thoughts wander . . . and wonder. (Do you remember the feeling of wondering, of not knowing something and that was the end of it—not knowing? Or if the desire to learn was great enough, you could read outdated material at the library or a decade-old encyclopedia or perhaps ask your aunt or grandpa, also arguably outdated.)
When I was young and bored, sometimes I sat in my window seat and watched the oak trees sway and listened to the cicadas long chirps just outside. Perhaps I called a friend (on a telephone with a curly cord), handwrote a letter to a grandparent, watched my dad repair a car or helped him make dinner. I rode my bicycle, lay in the cool wide blades of grass, or rollerskated in the driveway. I played house, office, babies, and Barbies. Sometimes I just lay there, still, on the itchy shag carpet, mentally creating images in the popcorn ceiling until I gently dozed to sleep.
That’s where it was when I was a child, and that’s where it is now. Creativity is found in rest.
Turn Off the Mainstream
Creativity actually doesn’t hide itself or make itself elusive. It’s just that creativity is right around the corner. You won’t find her in the relentless onslaught of production and consumption. Rather, creativity is on a backroad, one that requires you to turn off the mainstream.
Listen, I am challenging myself today to take more backroads, and not as a reward or luxury. I am challenging myself to start on a backroad daily and see where it leads . . . because the other thing I found in rest is something I’ve been thirsting for in recent weeks as well: a more meaningful spiritual life. But that’s an article for another day.
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