Creating for Self-Fulfillment

My Dear Fellow Travellers,

Admittedly, there are a million reasons to create. Some reasons good, some bad, but more than anything, there’s one reason that rises above the rest:

Create for yourself.

Creating shouldn’t be a chore, it shouldn’t be a hardship or something that just gets done. There should be a self-fulfillment of some sort attached to it.

Sure, there may be bigger reasons, like political stances or statements for equality., but the reasons for making such statements should be for you. It should be because you believe it, because it means something to you.

If it doesn’t, that makes your creations hollow. Sure you could be writing or painting because some one inspired you, but if that person is standing behind you, forcing you to work, then your work isn’t for you, isn’t fulfilling of some innate need inside yourself.

The examples of people creating for their own fulfillment is vast, from the silly to the serious. Lady Gaga wants to be unique and create astonishing pieces that shock and amuse people, she, from all assumptions, enjoys this. Martin Luther King wrote his “Letter from Birmingham Jail”, because he believed in his cause and he could not fulfill himself if he didn’t push for it. But how many people go that extra step, push for something so hard, if they don’t find some type of self-fulfillment from it? If creating does not help them towards their own goals and dreams?

Sara Barielles has a song, called “Love Song”, that says, “I’m not gonna write you to stay/All you have is leaving/I’m gon’ need a better reason/To write you a love song today.” That quote sums up how we should feel about our creativity: that we should not feel forced to create, but rather that creation should be part of our own self-fulfillment.

This does, however, bring up questions about self-fulfillment, that I may or may not address at another time.

References
Love Song by Sara Barielles http://www.metrolyrics.com/love-song-lyrics-sara-bareilles.html