Creativity

"The goal here is just to be as much me as possible." - Mac Miller

When I imagine what creativity looks like, I picture Salvador Dali painting trippy melting clocks, or FKJ effortlessly live looping vibey masterpieces.  I know creativity exists outside of these high-level artistic niches, but it's still been harder for me, someone who is pretty mid at art and music, to envision myself as a creative person. Recently, however, I've been feeling the pull to get fully absorbed in a creative project and build my creative muscles. Part of the inspiration came from listening to The Creative Act, a new book by music producer Rick Rubin. I've been drawn to him ever since I watched a docuseries called Shangri-La that shows how he works with musicians at his iconic studio in the Malibu hills (here's a lil clip of him w/ Mac Miller).

Even though I know the show romanticizes the creative process as a magical therapeutic release of self-expression, Mac hits on an idea I haven’t been able to shake when he says, "The goal here is just to be as much me as possible." In a world where goals are almost exclusively quantitative (e.g. my quarterly goal at work is to run and report six A/B tests 🙄) , there's something uniquely enticing about a pursuit that challenges me to be 100% authentic. Right now I do things that make me feel like myself (meditate, spend time in nature, travel) to relieve myself from work . What would it be like to work on something where those things are essential to the work?

As cliché or abstract as "being myself" may sound, it feels like there's something essential about the pursuit of it.  The concept that comes to mind (still filed away from one semester of high school psych??) is Self-actualization, aka the penthouse in Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs:

positivepsychology.com

I've always chalked up creative expression as a frivolous hobby that a very select group of talented people have parlayed into a career, but I'm starting to buy into the idea that it's an exploration that leads us towards finding ourselves and finding fulfillment, no matter what the output looks like. I also found out that when Maslow got older he added a 6th level to the pyramid (a penthouse penthouse), which he called self-transcendence and defined as a person's desire to "further a cause beyond the self and to experience a communion beyond the boundaries of the self through peak experience”. So even if I’m not sure if creative endeavors are my true calling, maybe they’re a necessary step on the path to finding purpose in life.

So how does someone like me go about embarking on a creativity journey? Does it start with picking a medium and just going in on it, or is it about attuning myself to ideas that feel like they need to be expressed in a creative way?  In The Creative Act, Rick Rubin makes the case that ideas "exist" in the collective consciousness and come to fruition when the timing and conditions in the world are right. Part of my motivation to write this piece is staked in a decision to start thinking of myself as a "creative person" and open myself to ideas that I feel need expressing. So guess what, I’m buying the creative guy starter pack and theres nothing you can do to stop me-

But even if I can’t look the part, or it takes some time to change my mindset, I do notice that a different part of me lights up when I try to think creatively, like when I’m messing around with Dalle 2. It's pretty damn cool to think of a wild idea in my head, then use a tool to instantly express it in a visual form that someone else can then look at and we can connect on that creative expression. Maybe that connection leads to something else magical, a new idea, or just a moment of shared being. Even though part of me is persistently questioning whether these moments are worth pursuing and prioritizing, another part is telling me that there is creative energy swirling in me and in the world, and finding a way to express that will be deeply fulfilling and self-actualizing.

In the process of writing this, I've come to recognize how Hot Tub Talks is a creative project. It's been meaningful to put into words the random ideas that come into my life, and the best part of writing these has been the conversations it’s sparked and the feeling of connection I get when people tell me what they take from reading it. Hearing from a few people that my last post (Sabbatical) was just the nudge they needed make a big change was truly gratifying. So, I’m going to keep trying to be creative, here and wherever else it feels right, and if you and enjoyed this piece, share it with a friend and holler in the comments about what hit for you. I’d love to hear what creative project you’re working on or aspire to work on, and how creativity shows up in your life. Let's get creative in the tub, and as always much love and thanks for reading.