As human beings we are hardwired to want to create things, and when we are children this creative drive is encouraged. We make up imaginary friends and worlds, we color, craft and paint and build up entire cities out of legos. Somewhere along the road to adulthood though, our creativity gets put into a little box. Creativity becomes something reserved for only the few, supremely talented amongst us. It becomes something out of reach.
So when we feel this nudge to build a business, start a blog, write a book, or embark on any sort of creative endeavor off the beaten path, it can be a terrifying prospect. We tend to silence or dismiss that voice calling us towards something more. There are all sorts of logical excuses we make up as to why we can’t do the thing we are feeling pulled towards. Excuses like “it’s already been done before” or “I’m not talented enough to do this” or “I don’t know how this is going to help anyone or make money so what’s the point” or “what if no one likes it”.
And that is the beauty of the book Big Magic, by Elizabeth Gilbert. I would describe the book as a wonderful series of meditations offering an enlightened perspective on creative living. And creative living isn’t just about being a painter, a sculptor or a poet. Gilbert defines creative living as a life more guided by curiosity than fear; a life where you are on a constant quest for all the hidden treasures the universe has buried within you. Creativity is about bringing forth whatever is inside of you, and sharing that splendor with the world.
Here are three of my favorite takeaways from my first read through of the book. I want to share them with you in the hopes of inspiring you to read the book and also embark on your own journey towards creative living.
#1 Martyr vs Trickster
The concept of the martyr and the trickster is all about taking a look at your overall approach to life and asking yourself “are you making your work or your life harder than it needs to be?”
In the book, Gilbert talks about two different ways we can approach our work and life as a whole: the trickster and the martyr.
She explains that the “martyr energy is dark, solemn, macho, hierarchical, fundamentalist, austere, unforgiving and profoundly rigid. The trickster on the other hand has an energy that is light, sly, transgender, transgressive animist, seditious, primarily and endless shapeshifting.”
The martyr is all about that sacrifice and firmly believes that life is pain. The martyr finds a sick, twisted glory in the pain of existence and thinks there is some nobility in suffering. That martyr believes that “this is the way things are done” and has a hard time taking shortcuts or deviating from the status quo.
The trickster is playful and believes that life is interesting. The trickster tries to game-ify things as much as possible and is on a mission to enjoy life. The trickster doesn’t believe that life has to be so hard or so serious and values levity and thinking outside of the box.
So much of our modern society is caught up in this martyr mentality. The idea that it is glamorous to ensue great suffering on behalf of a belief, principle, or cause. And while, yes suffering is something that is ultimately inescapable, I wonder how much of us are needlessly creating more suffering than is really necessary.
My whole medical career was an exercise in martyrdom because the necessity of suffering and sacrifice is so deeply ingrained in the ethos of medicine. I believe this is historically part of the profession. So much of the honor of being a physician is the way you dedicate your life to your work. The way you are called to sacrifice your personal time, family time and sleep to save the lives of others. That is part of the deal of becoming a doctor and maybe part of the reason why people are so impressed with the white coat.
But all this really does among physicians is build up resentment and create a suffering contest of who has it worse. We were constantly battling it out to see who has sicker patients, who was working longer call shifts, and who was running around more ragged and frantic.
Looking back now, it all seems so absurd.
What about you? How are you embodying martyr energy in your life? Where are you making your life or your work harder than it needs to be?
Are you complaining about how the algorithm is rigged? Are you forcing yourself to stick to rigid posting and content creation schedules even when they are uninspiring to you because “this is the way it’s done”? Are you taking yourself too seriously?
How can you bring some trickster energy into the mix? I like to think of the trickster like embodying your inner child. The trickster still wants to get to the goal, it just wants to have fun while doing it.
For example, if your goal is to get physically fit, the martyr would force you to spend hours on the dreadmill or the elliptical slogging away because that is just how it’s done. The trickster, however would ask…. how can I make this fun? How can I exercise AND enjoy myself? Dancing? Hiking? Swimming? Workout classes with friends?
The end goal is the same, but the trickster just realizes you don’t have to compromise your fun and enjoyment to get there. The trickster realizes that life doesn’t have to be so serious.
Some questions I ask myself to activate my inner trickster:
How can I make this fun or enjoyable?
How can I make this more light and playful?
How can I make this into a game?
Sometimes you may need to suffer. I’m not saying life is always going to be a jolly good time. But next time you notice yourself suffering or preparing to suffer maybe just ask yourself….. Do I have to? Is this really necessary? Is there another way to get the same result? And maybe sometimes the answer will be yes.
#2 Originality vs Authenticity
One of the biggest mental obstacles to creating something new and putting it out into the world, is the fear that it’s not really new. The fear that the market is already saturated. The fear that it’s all been done before and by someone probably better and more qualified than you. This is the fear that our work won’t be original and therefore, what’s the point of it at all. We put such a premium on originality as if being the first one to create something is the only valid way to do it. If you didn’t invent it, then go home.
What I love about Big Magic is that Gilbert argues against the necessity of originality. She talks about how, at the end of Shakespeare’s lifetime he had probably already written all the plays and story-lines that could ever exist. But people kept writing stories anyhow. And what’s more, we enjoy them.
In fact, I just read an incredible work of fiction called Anna K, which was a modern day retelling of Anna Karenina. The story line is essentially the same. It is not original. It is not even pretending to be original, because in the description on the back cover it clearly presents itself as a remake of the old classic.
But I didn’t care that the book wasn’t the first of its kind, because it was authentic. The author brought in her Korean heritage and personal experiences in the modern world to express the same tale from a beautiful new angle.
And it was riveting.
As humans we all naturally grapple with the same problems and drives and questions, so why do we care so much about originality?
Instead why don’t we focus on being authentic.
Why don’t we focus on sharing OUR story in the most genuine and true way we know how. Why don’t we worry about infusing our work with our own personal experiences and anecdotes and quirkiness.
No one else is YOU. No one else has had the sum total of your experiences. So how can we focus on that instead of worrying about being the first or the only one to talk about or create something.
#3 Passion vs Curiosity
Another distinction that has been hugely valuable to me has been the difference between passion and curiosity. So often, the advice we hear in the personal growth space revolves around “follow your passion” “chase your dreams” but these ideas can be daunting and inaccessible.
Not everyone feels passion in such a strong and dramatic way. Particularly if we are burned out, stressed out, exhausted or spending all of our time in a job we hate. In those situations it can feel like a total impossibility to be passionate about anything except crawling into bed.
So if we don’t feel that passion, we can feel left out. Like creative living just isn’t for us. Maybe we just don’t have any dreams in our hearts or any treasures inside of us waiting to be expressed. Maybe we are just one of those duds. If we are already feeling lost or stuck about where to go in life, this can be particularly disheartening.
Gilbert presents another, more gentle way to explore what is in our hearts. Instead of worshipping the intensity of passion, she suggests following the threads of our curiosity.
To follow our curiosity we can ask ourselves the following questions.
Is there anything you are interested in right now?
Anything?
Even a tiny bit?
No matter how mundane or small?
Following our curiosity seems significantly easier than following our passions and therefore it is much more likely that we will actually do it.
Plus it just makes sense to start with curiosity. How can we be passionate about something we don’t know anything about?
Passions don’t just appear out of thin air. You don’t just wake up one day with no prior knowledge about the environment and suddenly feel a burning desire to save the earth from climate change. It doesn’t work like that.
We have to learn about something first before we can hope to feel a strong level of passion about it. That’s why we must start with our curiosity. Curiosity can be a precursor to passion.
These are just a few of the beautiful, transcendent and life changing concepts in Big Magic. For even more perspective shifts on creative living, I highly recommend reading the whole book! Which takeaway was most relevant or interesting to you?
Comment below and share!
