Random Thought: The Creativity Challenge

I’ve been down for a long, long, looong time now and I’m feeling dried up creatively. And since I’m in the stage where I feel my self-worth (and work) depends heavily on my productivity, this drying up leads to losing all the positivity I have left. (I’m definitely negatively channeling The Secret right now)

So I skimmed my life in search of when I was creatively ‘flourishing’ and then bam! 4 months of my Junior Term Abroad in Singapore a few years back. It was absolute creative freedom! (Well not quite, I had a handful of group projects, reports and exams, but I enjoyed them too). I wasn’t afraid of anything, except getting deported, so I really immersed myself in that moment.

I walked anywhere and everywhere. Discovered a lot of places only by walking. Being in a different country, particularly a ‘safe’ one, was just liberating. Also, I checked out a bunch of museums there. At that time Singapore Art Museum was featuring Filipino art and History plus some Ateneo Art Gallery work which of course made me so proud. I also spent time researching and reading stories of designers that immensely inspired me. I got super attached to Stefan Sagmeister’s stories (more of this awesome designer here) that I bought his Made You Look book and went on a crazy-dangerous* backpacking trip to Bali, Indonesia.

*THIS crazy: a run down, straight-outta-thriller-movie motel room

I also had a couple of crazy moments such as staying in school ‘til 3am and taking crazing jump shots with Theia.

And did a hand-drawn poster with hundreds of sticky notes, which I ditched the night before the project submission.

And a weird moment when I took home a couple of twigs. 

Took a Postmodern theater class, played the role of the Tree in our Giving Tree final production, with these awesome people.

I just couldn’t fully describe the whole experience. It was surreal, free, fun, crazy, whatever. It greatly helped me with my creative thinking. There I first had a glimpse of my future book featured here. So I guess the creative freedom I got there was useful after all. 

So what now? I couldn’t just dwell on the past and think that I’ve passed my prime, still too early for that. Right now I’m living in the ‘real world’, which reminds me that everything I do has a consequence. If I do well, I get more; if I don’t, I lose. I’ve becom scared of, being too crazy, thinking out of the box, and well, making mistakes. 

That clearly dried me up and burned me out. 

So here’s my challenge: To do something out of my comfort zone, something crazy, or risky everyday and document it. An everyday shock can take me out of this creative drought. I hope I won’t be too scared to start it tomorrow. :)) 

on WIPs

the works I put in my Works In Progress folder never get touched again. It’s a curse! or just me. 

Random thought 3.6.12

Random thought 3.6.12: Almost a year after grad

It’s that time of the year again when hopeful, wide-eyed fresh grads step out into the real world, imagining different ways of changing the world with 1 weapon: a college diploma.

I can’t believe it’s almost been a year since that momentous, joyous and most overwhelming experience dawned upon me. It brought about the dreamiest state, where all the ‘Finally!’s and ‘it’s over’s were being spewed out of everyone’s mouths. A big sigh of relief that moment was, and of pure joy! 

But in a split second a thought takes that joy and grinds it with its teeth, then swallows it up so gluttonously, then excretes the most earth-shattering question in your face: ”What’s next?”… Then all the fears and uncertainties come out, slowly crippling all dreams and aspirations. And all that’s left is the reddest slap mark of reality with the consolation of a giant piece of paper with Latin jargon.

Facts of real life then popped out: unemployment, bills and of course, the feeling of uselessness. Real life seems much too different from how I imagined it behind the campus walls. So I sulked, watched TV all day, tried to look for a job that my course had any sort of connection with, and just kept sulking.

Then this:

I gave myself a wake up call. A deadline, the most familiar and highly feared enforcer in the academe. 

And it did wake me up. Time and age and the fear of them getting ahead of me kept me on my toes. This and everything else gave me the great Push I needed. Now I’m employed, falling in love with what I’m doing.

Long story cut short, the journey from taking the diploma to the first step of career is a life-changing one. You may lose yourself, a little bit of your sanity and most of your idealism but to your surprise, you’ll also get to meet the world education kept preparing you for. It’s your choice whether you’d embrace it or put it on hold.