Creativity is a remarkable thing

I've been feeling less than inspired lately... just no get up and go to do much of anything with music. Plus I still have this annoying raspy cough that makes singing a bitch. But I was getting kind of antsy to do something so I went out and boughy myself a sketch book and some pencils. When I was a kid I used to draw all the time. Just endless sketches of anything that came to mind. I hadn't done that in a long time so I really had no idea why I was buying the art gear but I did. So, as I've been sitting around I've been making designs and doodles and just letting my mind go wandering around. Got out some markers and have been playing with colors and I realized, I needed this. In some small way, it sparked something in me that was long missing. I don't toy with the idea that any great masterpiece will emerge from all of this but it is just the act of creating that makes the difference.

Funny how that is.

I've also been thinking more about work. Not just my work but work in general. What is the value of it, and in it, and how do people decide what it is they want to do for work. This is a hot topic for me lately because someone dear to me is struggling with these questions. I started thinking about what I get out of work - besides a paycheck. The funny thing is that somedays the paycheck is all I get out of it and, for some reason, I still find value in that. What makes a career? I wonder about those people I know who decided at some point that they will be "something" (a teacher, a doctor, a ballerina...) and then devote years to meeting that end. I have never been one to be able to do that yet somehow I have lucked into what could be called a career. And trust me....it was all trial and error on my part. For me, the important part of life has always been what happens when I'm not at work. So the work itself was inconsequential. But I know that most people don't feel that way.

I do feel that you have to do what your heart tells you to do. I lost valuable time doing what other people thought was the right thing for me to do and I won't make that mistake again. I think you have to know your talents, trust them, use them and let them lead you. And if that means you get a paycheck from working a dayjob that could never be considered a career while you follow your heart and hone those other skills, then so be it. Do what you love. That's all there is to it.