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About 30 seconds into the video for Macklemore’s YouTube video announcing he and Ryan Lewis’s next album, This Unruly Mess I’ve Made, he uttered a line that made me stop and replay the sentence. Twice.
It really struck a chord with me, which I was hesitant to admit, because often, once I critically think about a mic-drop statement for a second or two, I usually realize it’s common knowledge creatively packaged (like the first time you read any of those motivational posters in school; by sixth grade, they’re all cliche). This one, though, made me think:
“There is creativity for validation, and there is creativity for survival.”
I immediately agreed with the first half, then had to think a few minutes about the second. Survival? Really? Was that a bit melodramatic?
But then I thought about this blog; about my compulsive need to write, even if nobody sees it, even if it’s never acknowledged. I just have to type, scrawl, whatever it takes to get the words out. Much like how some people have to sculpt, or play music, or wrench on cars. It’s what fulfills you and helps you make sense of the world — or at the very least, makes the world more bearable, particularly when you’re struggling.
Makers gotta make, right?
Once I got past that first part, I suddenly started looking critically at the stories I pitch at work, the blog posts I write, the food I make for videos: What category do those things fit into? When am I creating things because I need them to exist in the world, and when am I creating things because I want those things to make me look good/be better liked/go viral?
Certainly, there are times when you need to make things because that’s your job, or that’s what somebody needs; it can’t all be moonbeams and rainbows and dancing to the beat of your own drum. But still, Macklemore’s words made me step back and question my motives, and what it means to create something that matters — to me and to other people.
Like he says later in the clip, “If you aren’t scared of what you’ve created, you aren’t done yet.”
Here’s the full video:
