Create Something Every Day

The world is full of consumers. We consume constantly. We buy food, supplies, and pretty sparkly things that have no use. We get on Facebook and consume other people's lives. We spend hours on Pinterest adding pins to an all-purple dream house or collect images of the Scottish vistas we long to visit (or is that just me?).

But when do we create? When do I set aside the time to make things and not just take them?

As a teacher, I am nearly forced to be creative on a daily basis. My lessons as a middle school teacher are half content half theater. I am looking at new ways to engage and inspire.

And it is exhausting.

When I get home after a day of creating for others and fixing issues on the turn of a dime, I don't want to be creative for myself. I want to sit on my couch and watch Brooklyn 99 whilst eating chocolate. I want to consume content the way I consume food.

But recently, I have been challenged by the idea of creating. I encourage my students to create constantly, and yet I rarely do it for myself.

Because creating his hard. Creating is risky. Creating takes effort and forethought. Creating means putting your work out there and other people could *gasp* not like it. Creating means you are willing to be criticized by others. Others who, may I point out, are often not being creative themselves.

Because it is so easy to criticize. It is so easy to say this or that isn't done right. To say something could be of better quality or stronger or prettier or (fill in the blank). It is easy to sit back and consume what others have made, judge, and then move on to consume more. It is so easy most have made it into an art form. Consuming and judging to the point where we get upset when others interrupt our consuming time. And yet at the end, unless the consuming has a goal, what are we left with? Knowledge? Information?

I know what you are thinking. "But Rachael! I have to consume to learn things!" And while that is true, if you watch a thousand videos on boat making but never actually make a boat, what good is that knowledge? If you don't share your insights with others and the world, why bother learning it at all? Consuming or learning information should lead to creating in most cases, yet too often in my own life, I find myself just consuming and then moving on.

Because I forget the benefits of creating. Creating might be hard, but I often learn about myself and master skills while creating. Creating may be risky, but it can yield high rewards if you succeed and a valuable lesson if you fail. Creating may take effort, but it is the kind that makes you proud in the end. Creating may expose you to the criticism of others, but this will only help you learn to be less critical yourself.

So here is the challenge, to myself and anybody reading this: create. Put those hours binge-watching YouTube videos on how to cook to use and go cook something! And if you don't know how to do something, go learn! That is one of the coolest parts of having the internet at my fingertips daily: if there is something I don't know how to do, there is probably a video of someone trying to do that thing already.

So here's to creating. Here's to those who dare to make and not just take. Here is to those who do not count the day complete until they have made something, until they have given back to the world.

In the spirit of inspiring creativity, I have a list of upcoming projects I am in the process of planning:

1) A Merida dress from the movie Brave (because the two princess dresses I have are not enough for me apparently)
2) Youtube video explaining how I do my hair (tentatively titled "4 bobby pins or less" because I don't have time for more than 4 in the early mornings)
3) Second drafting a science fiction novel I have been writing for two years (finally)

Indonesian words:

Membuat: To create (normal use)

Mencipatalcan: To create (higher-order use, for great accomplishments)

Menarusukan: to go forward

-Rachael