Creativity

I like to write, and sometimes I like to write about writing. It’s a bit like the artist who teaches art, rather than practicing it. But I think there’s value in it, and I hope you do too. Like any creative endeavor, it’s worth taking a step back to examine the process—why you do a thing, and how you do it. Should you continue? Are you doing it well? Are you doing it for the right reasons? Are you producing the work you want to produce, or is it a half-hearted attempt at something else? Are you doing it for yourself, or for others? To make money, or to make a difference?

I think most people are artists, in one sense or another. We don’t generally do much to cultivate artists as a society, aside from the occasional optional art class in school. I like to cosplay as an artist, but I don’t think of myself as particularly talented or skilled when it comes to making art.

Writing is not easy, and it’s easier for some than others. Personally I don’t find it hard to write about things that interest me, but I know some do. I suppose some types of writing are easier for me than others, i.e., I find writing fiction difficult, so I don’t do that. Perhaps I should try harder.

I’m learning to get better at being bored. In the past, I wouldn’t say I liked boredom. And I still tend to fill my free time more than I should with “activities” when bored. Most of the time, the activities I choose to fill my free time include: reading, writing, taking walks, watching TV or movies (as much as I hate to admit), and occasionally a video game (which is not a passive activity, unlike TV).

We’re told early on in life that memorization is the path to success. Education systems seem to be largely based on this idea. Most school lessons involve some degree of memorization, and creativity is generally discouraged in core curriculums. I’m pretty sure this is a bad idea, because there’s not really that much benefit to memorization. Instead, I think critical thinking and the ability to quickly find information is much more valuable.

Humans are pretty bad at intuiting about exponential growth. Whether it’s pollution, population growth, or the way a virus spreads, our brains are bad at understanding the impact of such growth.

As a kid growing up, I studied music in school and played a few different instruments. One instrument I always wanted to learn was the guitar, which I never did because I could only play what the school had available for free, because my parents couldn’t afford to buy me my own.