Creating Can Teach You to Live in the Moment
Think about the last TV series you watched or the book you recently finished. The end is always a disappointment. Not because of the book’s ending, but the end of your connection to it.
You’ve created bonds with the characters. It feels like they’re friends or enemies in real life. You’re invested in their lives and their story. When there are no more pages to flip, no more juicy surprises, and the character arcs are complete, it’s a bit sad — like saying bye to a friend or family member that you know you won’t see for a while.
So, too, is the act of creating something. Whether you’re making a song, painting, or writing a short story when you, the author, have finished, the gratification does not seem to fit.
Creation Outweighs Completion
As someone who has dipped their toes in many creative practices — UI design, web design, photography, writing — I’ve experienced the reward from completing a project. I have also experienced the emotions felt while working on those same projects and understood my connection to the project.
The process of creating can make you feel like a king, an imposter, a novice, and an expert. You’re fully involved in this piece of work for good and for bad.
As a writer, you can feel as though you wrote something so beautiful that it’s worth the examination of university students. Five minutes later and you may feel like you’ve just written something so bad that your 6-year-old brother would shame you.
When you finish your project, you realize the enjoyment was there, in the process.
During the stages of work, you transition between triumph and struggle — you appreciate the little wins and learn from the struggles. You receive immense joy from something so simple. It’s meditative, relaxing, and maybe even fun.
As that piece comes to completion, you get the feeling as though you’re losing something. Even a project that caused hours of frustration, it’s tough to move on when it ends. You may look back and compare it the end of a project to the time you and a friend parted.
The process is where the beauty lies. The next time you work on a big project, take a moment to ignore your desire to finish and reflect on the beautiful act of creating something from nothing.
Each Moment is Potential
The same as writing or painting, everyday life is full of experiences for the taking. In fact, creative processes can teach us this appreciation for the moment.
Too often, I hear people talk about the excitement of finishing a project, their weekend plans, or even the end of the day.
As humans, we always want to have something to look forward to, to dream about. I know perfectly well I’m guilty of this, especially when I was working 40 hours a week at a job I disliked.
When Monday came around, I’d only wish for the day and the week to go by fast. I was living for the weekend when I felt I was truly free to enjoy my time.
But I was wrong. No matter if you’re at work, at home, or on vacation, the potential of appreciating and enjoying your life is always there. At work, you can cultivate gratefulness for the work you have, the paycheck you get, and the coworkers who support you.
When you have an upcoming event you’re looking forward to, and you wish so badly that it would come quicker, that time would move faster, you’re asking for time to disappear.
Hoping for warm, Summer weather in the middle of January forces you to forgo the beauty of a snowy night.
Wanting to fast-forward through hours or days is forfeiting all the positive experiences that you could have. It’s hard to appreciate the days at the office when you have a vacation a few days away, but it’s enriching to create a habit of taking full advantage of each minute.
Take a moment to pause during the day and appreciate the moment. Reflect on your surroundings or your current state in life, and you’ll find something worthy of appreciating. You may even look back on that time with nostalgia.
