No Artist Tolerates Reality Because Reality Bites
Never underestimate the value of creativity
“If you’re confident that you’re living your highest calling in life and fulfilling your potential to its fullest, great. If you bring generosity and playfulness to everything you do, not just to creative tasks but to every area of your life, fantastic. If the spirit of creativity and invention infuses every day and all of your important relationships with joy, inspiration, and vitality, you’ve already learned anything I can teach you. Whatever you’re doing, it’s working. You’re living the dream. Go back to creating your day. The world needs what you have to give. Please give this book to someone who needs it.” —Chase Jarvis, Creative Calling: Establish a daily practice, infuse your world with meaning, and succeed in work + life
If You Need a Sign, Life May Throw a Book At You
I’m practically giddy to share this next book, Creative Calling by Chase Jarvis. It’s a bit of a lighter read than The Way of Integrity—do I hear a sigh of relief? I feel you. I’d love to pass along my physical copy of Creative Calling, but I still revisit this book often. I do highly recommend getting your own copy if the quote above resonates with you.
I’m pretty sure I was destined to read this book—it inspired me to make some significant changes in my life. In early 2022, I was working full-time in a product design consulting role that was high on my bucket list of career experiences, but in my internal world I was hitting the peak of an existential crisis. In March, I heard Chase Jarvis speak in a podcast interview about his book Creative Calling. I felt an intense urge to read it myself, and well, I quit my job a month later.
Around the same time, I had also been playing with photography. I found the Nikon camera that my dad had previously given me, and I started shooting photos around my neighborhood for fun. Chase Jarvis, if you don’t know, is a well-known photographer from Seattle who also founded the platform CreativeLive. Reading about Chase’s creative journey as a photographer, just when I was exploring photography myself, felt like a major synchronicity, and I knew intuitively that there was a big message in it for me. I highly recommend this book for anyone who feels a calling toward creative expression, whether it’s through photography or any other medium. There is so much good stuff in this book—I will certainly write about it more than once.
If You Get Lost, Don’t Ask For Directions
Chase’s story resonated with me on a deep level, like those of the other authors I’ve previously referenced. He writes, “There’s a reason it’s so hard to follow our calling. The whisper of intuition telling us what we’re meant to do and how we’re meant to live comes from within, but it leads away into the unknown.” The unknown can be super scary, right? It takes a lot of courage, but Chase writes, “Once I finally started listening to the call, I found myself on a new path. Not the path designed by my career counselor, encouraged by my parents, or suggested by society. My own.”
Chase had explored a few different career paths before he discovered his calling as a photographer. His initial plan was to go to medical school. He later pivoted to pursuing a PhD in Philosophy and Art at the University of Washington. Then, the sudden death of his grandfather, who was very close to him, delivered an earth-shattering blow. (If you’ve read my previous articles, this is a familiar story, right?) On a trip to Europe with his girlfriend, he started taking photographs, and that was how his professional photography career began. He has since reinvented himself multiple times as an entrepreneur, as the founder of CreativeLive, and as a podcast host. I’ve obviously never met him, but he comes across as a highly conscious, self-aware, genuine dude.
Creativity is Your Freakin’ Birthright
Chase was smart to listen to his calling in his 20s—my journey has been a lot less linear (ha). He writes, “Put bluntly, many of us spend years, even decades, in pursuit of someone else’s plan for our precious life. We’re trapped by our own limiting beliefs, by the well-trod paths of others, by all our culture’s ‘shoulds.’ But the trap is an illusion. The world would have you believe that a creative practice is an indulgence, an impractical waste of resources better invested in . . . something else, something more worthy. Watching the stock markets? Performing science experiments? It’s never very clear what you’re supposed to do instead—only that pursuing creativity is lofty, selfish, or even naive.” I started Coffee Talk because I wholeheartedly endorse his statement: “Creativity is your birthright.”
I personally have fallen into the trap of my own limiting beliefs and external influences year after year. It’s hard not to; we’re human. When I was a kid, creative expression flowed out of me with the force of a volcano. For whatever reason, it has been difficult to stay in touch with that hugely important part of myself in adulthood. By taking a career break in 2022, I reclaimed my creativity and I reclaimed myself. Since then, I have experienced one of the most prolific creative periods of my life—as a songwriter, a photographer, a writer, etc., and my creativity grows with each passing day.
Living more authentically feels like being on Cloud 9, and now I wonder what the hell took me so long. (Ha, it’s all a journey). I wake up every day feeling excited to do my work, and I’m motivated by the feeling of purpose that it gives me. I feel happier and healthier than I’ve been in ages. In fact, I notice strangers smiling at me more often because my energy has shifted. This is powerful stuff. I’ve enjoyed watching friends go through similar transformations too. It’s entirely possible that I’ll feel called to return to a corporate job again, but let me put in writing: I’m committed to honoring my truest self going forward. I hope more of us are inspired to do the same.
Creativity & Art Matter, Period
I started this newsletter/blog in hopes of helping myself as much as I’m hoping to help others find more joy and fulfillment in life. We’re in it together! Regardless of your profession or what you consider your calling, many people struggle to find their “purpose.” Maybe it overlaps with your job, maybe it doesn’t. As I’ve said before, it’s the journey not the destination. We might feel called toward a new purpose at different stages in our life. For me, the road has been more of a spiral, rather than a linear path. The secret is learning to follow your inner guidance.
Chase writes, “Your life has two big arcs. The first is about acquisition; acquiring knowledge about yourself and the world—figuring out how to meet your own needs.” “The second arc is about contribution. You start thinking about how you can serve others and make a lasting impression on the world. We take, and then we give.” Since entering into midlife, the pull to serve humanity has grown stronger for me too.
I’ve done a lot of soul searching in recent years about what “meaningful work” means to me. While I was working as a UX + Product Designer, I found fulfillment in solving problems for my end-users, learning, and building my skill set. (If that’s your calling, awesome.) My own desire for meaning evolved into wanting to work for a more mission-driven company. There are so many important issues that need to be solved in this world: finding a cure for cancer, homelessness, environmental issues, access to healthcare, systemic racism. . . just to name a few. For a while, I considered how I might use my skills to support one of these causes.
My personal journey, however, led me back to the unique talents and gifts I was born with. The work that I truly love doing. My gift has always been creative expression—in spite of the periods that I’ve suppressed, abandoned, or denied this essential part of myself out of obligation, fear, or convenience.
Our culture doesn’t value creative expression in the way that we value other types of work. A small percentage of artists make a living on their creations alone. My heart literally feels like it’s going to burst every time I watch this Ted Talk by Ethan Hawke: Give Yourself Permission to Be Creative. He articulates the importance of human creativity beautifully. I have revisited it multiple times in the past year when I’ve needed a pep talk. If it resonates with you too, then I’m sending you a hug.
Listen to Your Calling
Getting to the heart of this topic: It doesn’t matter if you consider yourself to be an artist. We are all creative in various ways. We all have unique gifts to offer this world. If you’re lucky, your gifts overlap with your job and they pay the bills. If that’s not your reality yet, you can find other ways to fulfill your calling.
I joke about wondering what took me so long, but I believe our calling reveals itself when we’re ready—no sooner, no later. If you don’t feel like you have a calling, don’t fret. Perhaps there are skills you need to master or life experiences to be had first. My philosophy is: trust the journey and embrace what life gives you to learn. When you do find your calling, grab onto it. Or as Wayne Dyer said, “Don’t die with the music still in you.”
I hope this topic has been inspiring! I’d love to hear what you think. I welcome any comments or messages.
Additional Resources
My former high school art teacher sent me another Ted Talk recently: Do Schools Kill Creativity? In this 2006 talk, Sir Ken Robinson proposes that everyone is born with talents for creative innovation. He says, “Picasso once said, all children are born artists. The problem is to remain an artist as we grow up. I believe this passionately—that we don’t grow into creativity, we grow out of it. Or rather, we get educated out of it.” He argues that creativity is equally as important as literacy, and that it should be treated with the same status in public schools.