Podcasts and Pies
- Apr 4, 2016
- 3 min read
Last week I was interviewed for a podcast. It was a new experience for me, and I felt anxious about it. People might actually listen. And then they could play it back, and count exactly how many times I said “um,” or “like,” or “right?” And then they could publically mock me. We all know social media can be a dark place. Or they could decide that I wasn’t articulate or smart and probably not even a good therapist. I could lose clients. I could even lose friends. My parents would feel embarrassed of me.
Of course most of those things are about as likely as drowning in my own bathtub, and I know that. But I did feel that nudge of fear, both before and after I recorded it. It’s the same feeling I get when I hit publish on the blog post most weeks. It’s right past the edge of my comfort zone, where I feel a little uncomfortable and exposed.
I have decided that feeling is very good for me. It’s not pleasant, but I have identified it as the feeling that comes before creativity and growth. Once I can look past the nausea and sweating, it’s life-giving.
Once we become adults, we have to spent a lot of our time doing things that feel routine and sometimes monotonous. We pay bills, wash floors, fold laundry, make the commute, fill out the reading log, make dinner, clean the kitchen, set the alarm, and do it again. If we aren’t intentional and careful, every day can end up feeling very much like the day before. And this routine can lull us to sleep, to living life in a sort of trance.
That’s not how I want to live my life. I don’t want to sleep-walk through it. I want to be alive, alert, and engaged in as much of my life as I can. I want to be present. There are a lot of ways to intentionally engage your life, and creating and sharing your creativity are two of the best I have found.
People often say that they aren’t creative, but I just don’t believe it. We are all creative. It is deeply woven into the fabric of what it means to be human. There are endless ways that this creativity expresses itself. It’s not just painting and writing and music. Creativity emerges in navigating family life, cooking, telling jokes, engaging in conversation, decorating a home, balancing a budget, entertaining a toddler, gardening, getting dressed, taking a picture, and so on and so on and so on. If we are intentional and connected, every day is an invitation to engage our creative nature.
I also see great value in sharing our creative work. Creativity in and of itself is a beautiful thing. It is a reflection of our deepest nature, and there is value to every creative act. But if we take our creativity and hide it, we are stunting its full expression. Creativity is meant to be shared. And sharing our creative selves is deeply scary, particularly in a society as public and harshly critical as ours. It is a risk.
But when we take the risk, when we share our stories and ourselves and our work, the rewards can be breathtaking. Yes, you may be ignored or even mocked. But you may also deeply encourage and inspire someone else. What you create may not turn out like you had hoped. But you can learn and grow and try again, and encourage others to do the same. And in the process, you have the opportunity to feel alive and engaged in a way you otherwise would’ve missed.
My mom is famous for her pies. It is quite possible that she makes the best pie crusts in the entire country. And this weekend she tried an entirely new recipe. New kind of pie, new crust, all new. It took a long time. And it was (per her own assessment) ok. It tasted good, but it certainly wasn’t the best pie in the country. And I love that she took a risk. She tried something new; she engaged her creative self. She shared the results with friends and family.
What you create and share can be as big as a marriage, a novel, or campaign for public office. Or it can be as small as a strawberry-rhubarb pie, a photo gallery on your living room wall, or a local podcast. We were made to create and we were made to share, and when we live out of this part of ourselves we can come alive in ways we didn’t even know were possible.
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