A Need to Just Create

Some days are so hectic that if you don't take time to just stop and create you burn yourself out. 

During a recent move to a new studio and home, I was surprised to find that instead of resting when I could, I needed to find a safe space which I could create in, even though most of my supplies were still boxed up. 

Just the act of refocusing my mind and my body on my art instead of on the move was more revitalizing than any nap could give me. 

They say that stress is good for creativity. I agree, but I am not sure we yet understand why this is so.  The more stressed I became during the move, the more I needed to create. When I wasn't creating, my mind was still filled with ideas for what I would be creating within the new space. In fact the ideas came so frequently that I probably forgot most of them long before I could write them down for future consideration. 

What is about this need we have to create? If I was an accountant, would I be constantly running numbers through my head? Perhaps, but I doubt it would be because I was taking joy in it or reducing my stress level because I was doing so. 

There is something about the act of "creation" that surpasses most of other professions. I am not trying to put down any other job category. There are lots of dream jobs out there that would be great to have. But creativity generates a need to create more. Can an accountant say the same? 

We've all had to work other jobs. I'm not putting down accountants, just using them as an example. But consider any other job you've ever had or may have right now. At the end of a long shift, do you say to yourself "I want to keep doing it?" In some cases yes, but as a rule of thumb, you probably want to go home, relax and rest. 

But creativity isn't like that. We want to continue, sometimes long past the point of exhaustion because it brings a high that we cannot get any other way. 

When I was in late teens, one of the first creative ventures I was part of was putting together a Halloween party in an Athletic Club. The plan was that they would keep the club open all night and different parts of it would be transformed into themed rooms. I volunteered to transform the 5 racquetball courts into different horrific interactive scenes. I worked so hard on that project and its perfection that late in the afternoon of the night the event was to take place I got violently ill because I hadn't slept in several days and missed the event completely. But those rooms were masterpieces to my teenage mind. This would be a harbinger of things to come in my artistic life. 

But the need to just create begins as soon as we realize we have the ability to make something from nothing and I don't think it ever leaves us. I don't think I'd ever want it any other way. Would I like to be rich? Well if I did I'd not be an artist. I doubt money would satisfy the need to create. Its who I am. 

Who are you? 

~Grey~