There’s a feeling we all have of not being good enough. Whether it’s towards being a parent, a partner, or a business owner. Somewhere in our lives we fear falling flat, which keeps us from pursuing happiness or at the very least, makes the process a whole hell of a lot less fun.
In many regards I blame our overly connected culture that has comparison levels at an all time high and with that much information, we start to ask the question who am I to [Insert literally anything here]. I fall victim to this often. Worrying about how I can be the designer, artist, mentor that I want to be. Who am I to have anything to say when there are people out there who know so much more or are so much more talented than I am.
Richard Rohr once said in response to a question about how he has been able to create so much, “When I realized I didn’t need to be the creator of content but the conduit of content, things got a lot easier.”
A conduit of content.
I read this in Scott Erickson’s latest book, Say Yes, all about rediscovering your dreams and letting old ones die. (You’ll probably hear me talking about this book for years to come, it was so good!)
The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines conduit as “means of transmitting or distributing.” Often this is the movement of distributing fluid, but creation is its own type of fluid, one we claim to have “flow through us.”
As I sit here and think more about being a conduit instead of a creator it all becomes easier. There is less pressure to do it right, to be the best, but to simply let all that is built up inside me be released in the hopes that it inspires someone else to also release their flow of creation.
Because that’s what art does. It’s the artist being vulnerable and letting their emotions and thoughts out into the world to create a non-verbal form of communication. One that you can agree with or disagree with but have some sort of emotion none-the-less. And in the moment that you find a creation that speaks to you so deeply you are forever changed. So much so, that all you want to do with the rest of your life is create something that will make someone else feel as strongly as you did. A conduit of content, become a conduit for emotion.
Whatever you’re creating–a home, a business, a piece of art– you are a conduit of creation. You are allowing whatever you are passionate about to move through you so that it touches the lives of others. There are no credentials required, there is no perfection waiting for you on the other side. There is just what you create and the lives it touches, not creating would mean holding someone else back because they won’t get able to take the torch and pass it on.
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