risk

Since I wrote the post on creativity it seems that is all I have been reading about. First I read Creative Confidence by Tom & David Kelley an amazing book that really challenged me to accept my creative nature and to try and use that everyday. Next book I read on the subject was The Artisan Soul by Erwin McManus. This very personable book is just dripping with humility and passion. Erwin approaches the topic of creativity as one that is deeply spiritual and inviting for anyone and everyone. And most recently I have read the short and succinct Show Your Work by Austin Kleon, which emphasizes sharing process work. To be fearless in sharing the imperfect nature of process which allows others to really connect to the story behind the work. All three of these books had given me some amazing take aways that I would love to chat with you about over coffee but I wanted to touch on a point that hit me really hard from The Artisan Soul. The concept of risk.

Risk is something that I had never been too fond of. A story that reflects this is, a few years back I was headed on some trip, I remember as I was leaving my dad was saying goodbye and he said this exactly "be... well I was going to say be careful, but I know you will because you're you". I laughed in the moment and I laugh now as I write this because that summed me up pretty well. Far too pragmatic for my own good. Because of this mindset I would never have identified myself even close to creative. I have always and will always love math because of its objective nature. There was something so disheartening to me about subjectivity. To be honest it is probably the fact that you can poor a lot of work and passion into something an unless the evaluator can see that within it you are not going to do well. With math, if you get it you get it. You discover the underlining concept and theory and apply it, essentially a no risk scenario.

That type of thinking always made sense to me and it wasn't until I was sitting in one of my physics lectures in my first year of engineering that the "creative world" was open too me. I found myself trying to design a logo and t-shirts for a clothing company that I was thinking of starting. This experience has initiated a passion for photography, design, music and entrepreneurship. All of these things I have appreciated from afar and through my friends. I seem to have an absurdly talented group of friends, which is incredibly intimidating. this has stopped me from trying.