Creative jobs seem important
Discovery after the discussion
I thought on the question on our Friday club about the creative lifestyle and jobs of characters from the “Conversations with Friends” novel.
This question revealed my lost hopes and regrets which I successfully masked under contempt for creative activities or professions. I had artistic talent and courage when I was a child: my works in art school considered to be good. In University I got a taste to philosophy. I didn’t attempt to develop any of these areas as I thought there was no gain but the competition is too high. For example, one of my art school mates become an architect. It sounded like a dream come true. What she actually does is designing typical countryside houses without much creative touch.
I silently condemned my friends who decided to turn their career towards creative jobs in their 30+. I consider it as a desperate move caused by their delusion. How dare they to expect that somebody would pay them for their self-expression. Looks like envy, I know.
After our discussion, I found a key to a better understanding of this problem. While some characters of the book are actively engaged in creative life they do not really care about careers. This isthe thought of the main character:
I never wanted to earn money for doing anything. I’d had various minimum-wage jobs in previous summers — sending emails, making cold calls, things like that — and I expected to have more of them after I graduated. Though I knew that I would eventually have to enter full-time employment, I certainly never fantasised about a radiant future where I was paid to perform an economic role.
Yet, this idea didn’t inspire me to change my life right now. But it helped me to put things in order and stop avoiding arts and creativity.
