I’ve been writing poems for my son, starting before he was born, and filling in moments, ideas, and grammatically incorrect word salads here and there, bound in a little green book.
And I have to say, it feels good. Solving a challenging problem is challenging but it feels good. Figuring out how to get XYZ to work with ABC, be it a sauna build, a docker configuration, a homemade meal, or a poem. It feels good to puzzle, wonder, muse, pause and create.
Being creative feels good. Full stop.
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Today, wonderfully, my wife came into my office while I was getting a bit of work done, tears in her eyes, the good kind. “I read all the poems you wrote”. We shared a big hug with our little guy smooshed between us and a kiss.. kisses really, the lot of us. Our little person is more of a drooler at this point but you understand.
That’s a fun little moment you get rewarded with by making something that persists in the world. And a bonus, certainly.
But not the point. As much as I wanted to leave my feelings in some form for my son to read in the future, those feelings were mine, in the moment, enjoying the experience of expressing myself.
Fun to look back, even get jealous of yourself perhaps (the photo backlog on a tough workday is both joy and sorrow).
But the why is to make. To produce. Not to leave behind a thing but to be doing the making.
To think through an idea and instantiate it in the world. To make real the (illusorily) border of mind and matter.
Creativity feels good.
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If you’re struggling for satisfaction, examine your personal ratio of creation and consumption. Nothing wrong with consuming, we need nourishment of all sorts. But like with anything, too much is unhealthy.
Find a balance in creation. Friendships, business, art, poetry, software, servers, Warhammer 40k figurines, music, video, and (as cliché as it sounds) memories with loved ones.
