Committing To A Creative Pursuit (Part 1)

Good Morning Y'all!

My life has shifted quite rapidly since I've gone all in on creative pursuits.

I want to share part of that journey with you.

COMMITTING TO THE ACT

We feel the most pain when we are aware that life could be better, but we do nothing to change it.

No Awareness + No Action = Numbness

Awareness + No Action = Suffering

Awareness + Action = Heaven

A woman who has a great voice and loves to sing,

but is afraid of the opinion of others,

is not living life to the fullest.

A man who loves to paint,

but never makes the time,

is not living life to the fullest.

It often feels better to be numb,

not aware of our gifts,

than it does to be aware,

and suffer through not having the courage to use them.

I felt this way for such a long time.

Most of my adult life had been suppressing all acts of creation.

Makes sense. Society doesn't really promote this type of work.

There's so much more that needs to be done.

By the time we do what's necessary to pay the bills,

work out, cook, clean, see friends, take care of loved ones...

There's no time left to create.

It gets to the point where it feels like all of the boxes are checked, but something still feels like it's missing.

Most people feel this way,

knowing there's more to life,

but don't know where to find it.

Through my experience, we find it through creation.

I accidentally found mine while emailing a few loved ones as I traveled across the world.

Through creating, I realized I have a long-lost love affair with writing.

Now, I feel like I'm unable to go a week without putting a pen to paper.

Only artists may understand this...

But when we go a handful of days without creating, our life feels like 70% of what it could be.

It feels like we're wearing greyscale glasses, fogging up our view on life.

When we go a while without creating,

the sunset isn't as beautiful,

the food doesn't taste as delicious,

and we can't be fully present with those we love.

Feeling this to be true is what made me fully commit to doing a creative act every day.

The three hours I spend creating make the other 21 hours of the day feel significantly better.

After I create, I feel more loving, more present, more myself.

I know that I deserve to feel that,

and more importantly, my loved ones deserve that version of me.

The commitment to writing every day felt like a signed contract to becoming the highest version of myself.

The way it allows for us to quiet the mind and open up the heart is a feeling that I wish everyone could feel.

CONCLUSION

These past few days, I allowed life to get in the way of creating,

and I've felt the side effects of that ripple throughout my life.

I felt less focused, less present, and quite honestly less happy.

I want to get incredibly clear on why I'm doing this, and just how committed I want to be in the future.

This letter and the next few will explore how writing and creativity can serve our highest good.

My intention is to encourage anyone who has ever had an inclination,

to grab the pen,

tune the guitar,

pick up the microphone,

or set up the blank canvas...

To seriously consider exploring that curiosity.

Committing to our creativity will be our greatest investment.

It'll bring us everything we've been searching for.

It's what we're here to do.

That's it for today.

More Love Letters on how creative pursuits have tangibly changed my life, coming in the next few days.

I hope you know,

You are loved and you are enough.

See you tomorrow,

I love you all.

-Cameron Hogan