The joy of creating.
Robert Solomon
Consultant, coach, and workshop leader, author of the widely read and respected book, "The Art of Client Service," expert in achieving behavior change with advertising/marketing/PR agencies, clients, and individuals.
I passed over, unread, Charles Blow’s opinion piece, “The Beauty of Embracing Aging,” figuring the last thing I needed is yet another story confirming how old I am.
I also make it a practice to never, ever read The Times’ letters section, but for reasons I cannot explain – perhaps I’m more curious than I care to admit – I relented and read those commenting on Blow’s story.? In them I discovered the words of one letter writer, David Cantor, who defiantly proclaimed,
“I refused to be defined by age. I reinvented myself. I became a writer; good or bad is beside the point — it’s the joy of creating that matters.
“Aging is a gift, a chance to keep growing, learning and experiencing life in new ways. It’s about defying limitations and embracing the possibilities that lie ahead. So, for anyone else pondering the future, remember: It’s not about passively accepting age, it’s about actively living each day to the fullest, wrinkles and all.”
So true, these words, I wish I had written them.? In all the years I have been posting to Adventures, had I ever made such an elegant yet obvious observation?
I’ve repeatedly written about growing older, most recently here, and am a big believer in second acts.? I’ve celebrated agencies with the wisdom to look to veteran people who know more, work faster, and don’t panic when things get rocky.? I’ve talked about the power of re-invention more than once, and wisdom that transcends skill. I’ve even been inclined to dispense some advice on the matter.
The thing that stays with me, however, has little to do with these matters.? “The joy of creating” – universal, transcendent, timeless – is what I hold close as a profound truth.? As the letter-writer points out, “good or bad” matters not.?
For me, what matters is writing:? thinking of a subject, finding an approach that applies to those who take the time to read what I write, getting a draft down on paper, then working, reworking, and reworking to make it better.
When my friend Rick English asked where my ideas come from, I explained they rarely come from me. ?They come from other writers, and, on occasion, when one of you care to write a question or raise an issue, they come from you.
Wherever inspiration originates, writing is its own reward, and even now, as I sit at my keyboard, I think of this with pleasure, if not always satisfaction. ?And that’s the beauty of it, the thing that keep me coming back, in a never-ending quest to make something bad average, something average good, and something good better.
Having been on my own for 25-plus years, I find time is mine to command.? Not so for many of you, those who toil at institutions and advertising agencies that devour nearly every hour in the waking day.
Yet even for those of you still at it, still dealing with unrealistic deadlines, unforgiving colleagues, and unreasonable clients, there remain myriad ways to create something valued, be it strategy to address a challenge, a solution to solve a problem, or an idea that propels both you and business forward.
When this happens, as it surely will and more often that you might imagine, stop for a moment to revel in the moment, recognizing the joy of what you create – words, pictures, music, art – knows no age.