I believe the creative process is something that precedes academic knowledge. That’s not to say that conventional learning won’t help in expanding your thoughts, but it’s the mindset with which you approach education that’s most important. Because if you don’t question the way things are done, you’re basically saying: just tell me how things are and I’ll accept them as facts. And creativity has been around since the dawn of time. When man began drawing inside the caves, he didn't do it because he was looking for money, it was his way of carving his name on the tree. He was saying “I was here and this mattered”. He was leaving behind something that was bigger than him. And I think this is often times the paralyzing force that cripples most creative people. And I say creative people, not artists, because the artist is someone who takes a trip and peeks into the future, metabolizes it and manifests that experience back into a form of art which he brings back for the world to see. In that sense, the artist is not crippled by the idea of the legacy, or perfection, or the end goal – no. He simply does what he needs to do, however long it takes and in spite of what it does to him. Because as Picasso said “Art is the lie that reveals the truth”, so the artist shows us a glimpse, allowing us to peer into the future in order to understand the present; he illuminates us through the metaphor of his work.

Many creative people suffer from the pressures that they impose upon themselves. Constantly judging what they’re doing while they’re doing it and making it often times impossible to relax and get into a state of flow. This handicap, I believe stems from the inner critic everyone is guilty of listening to – myself included. So how do we fix this erroneous narrative and get unstuck to be able to create again? Do we lower the bar, or do we raise the stakes?

Well, let me try and answer this question with a little story. Recently, through the auspices of Instagram, I met two filmmakers from Argentina and sat down with them over a few beers and talked about creativity, life, and why they do what we do. Listening to them, I learned that one of them traveled to over thirty countries over the last two years! His wonderlust was a spontaneous reaction, a response to a life embellished by material things, which we all agreed, are ultimately meaningless. He packed up and set on an adventure with the goal of immersing himself into different cultures and trusted his instinct would be enough to help him figure things out along the way. It did.

And what I came to realize, as I was listening to his story is that we are all wonderers at heart. Human beings are meant to explore. To discover. No one likes to be tied down in monotony, routine, day in and day out. But at the same time, we lack the necessary trust in ourselves and become overwhelmed with self-doubt if the scenery never changes. We become uninspired. We get bored. We get dull. We get writer’s block and a thousand other ailments that we attribute to our lack of creative output. Yet, change your environment, and change your perspective! Change your perspective and the creative wheels begin to turn again. They maybe be rusty in the begging, but hey! At least you’re not in apathy anymore.

Another thing I learned is that practice beats raw talent. So people who have natural predilections for things get a little cocky eating up the accolades of their peers, and become lazy. And to me this was yet another reminder to stay humble and never become self-satisfied with my own work. Just do the best you can, prepare for the worst and learn to live it down if it doesn’t catch a breath of its own.

When you meet people who’ve really journeyed through life, people who’ve experienced the world through incredibly trying times and have had to crawl their way back into the light, it’s amazing how much you can learn from their experiences. For some, I guess the trick is to stay moving. So, if you’re a wonder junkie, keep on moving and discovering new things. Because the goal is not to find the answer to all things, but to learn to let go, enjoy the ride and live the present moment.