You cannot lose your creative identity. (daily video)

One of the cruelest “motivations” I ever heard was this: if you don’t write, you’re not a writer.

No. No. No. Listen to me: YOUR CREATIVE IDENTITY CANNOT BE LOST, EVEN IF YOU'RE NOT ACTING ON IT. A leg is a leg even in a cast.

ROUGH TRANSCRIPT

So we just had Halloween. Super fun!
Everybody gets to dress up and be silly.
You know, everybody enjoys it.
It's a really good time.
But here's a funny thing, creative:
During this, you wear a costume.
You are dressing up as something else, and it's a lot of fun.
During the rest of the year, you often feel like when you are trying
to be an artist, you're still wearing a costume, and
it's not really you.
It is easy to think that you are not a writer, not an artist,
not a creative, if you haven't made anything in a while.
In fact, I know supposed motivational speakers who say this.
"You're not a writer if you don't write."🤮
To me, that's horrifying, because if I have been stuck—
which I have been—then it means that I could look at my life and
go, I guess I'm not a writer.
Well, then, I have no right to even try.
I guess I'll just quit.
I mean, I guess I'm not a writer.
YES YOU ARE!
Listen to me.
If your leg is in a cast, and not being used as a
leg right now in any sense, is it still a leg?
If a car sits in a garage and it's not being driven
or sat in, is it still a car?
You are an artist, whether or not you
are making art.
And this matters because if you do not believe you
are that thing, why will you think you
have the right to create?
What we do comes out of what we believe about
who we are.
You are an artist, whether or not you are currently creating.
Now, you need to create, you absolutely do.
But you didn't lose your identity just because you're not currently
acting on it.
Once you finally begin to understand that you have the right to create,
because it is part of you, it is your nature, you are that thing,
you're a lot more likely to do it.
Once again, creative, we are taking all the shame and guilt that tends to be associated
with all this and throwing it out the window.
You have the right to create.
You are an artist, even if you have not acted
on it in some time. It's okay.
That means you can start now.
You don't have to wait for permission.
You don't have to wait for a gong to go off.
You can just start.
Give yourself permission to let it be crappy, especially those 1st
attempts, and you're going to make a lot more progress than you think.
You cannot lose your creative identity.
Hold on to this, because it is your key.
It is your permission.
It means you can sit down whenever you want and create.
Nothing can take that identity from you.
Absolutely nothing. Sit down with
me, and together, let's make something new.