We're A Creative Lot, We Just Need to Believe it

Recently I wrote about the transition into 2023, and how difficult the previous year had been. And yet there’s a miraculous achievement that I believe I needed to highlight: the very fact that you are reading this newsletter. You see, I had to overcome some personal misconceptions and mental hurdles to start writing. Let me tell you how I overcame some of those…

A Bit More About Myself??

I went to middle school and high school at “Unidad Educativa Nuestra Se?ora del Rosario” a Catholic institution in Venezuela. I’m very grateful for the solid foundation it set for my professional life. Having studied diverse subjects like Art History, Philosophy, Spanish Grammar & Literature, Sociology, English, Latin and French, is something I took for granted for quite a while. Looking back, that foundation is the greatest factor that contributed for me to work 12+ years in the language services industry.

Going With the Present Options?

Most High School institutions in Venezuela gave you two career paths to choose from: Science or Humanities. The common belief was that those who studied Science would be more successful than their counterparts since, the common conception was that those who excelled in Math, Physics, Chemistry, etc. were going to have greater chances of being successful. This was reinforced by having relatives at home and on my mom’s side that would excel in those fields and would become doctor’s and pharmacists.?

On the opposite side, it was believed that if you chose humanities, you were probably undisciplined and lazy. Humanistic folk were destined to become starving artists, teachers, writers and journalists. The exceptions to this perceived rule were for the lucky ones who would probably succeed by becoming lawyers and the good-looking ones who could get a career in modelling, who led to a career in the communications field. We had vivid and constant examples of this because of the subsequent careers of the participants of the Miss Venezuela pageant through the years.

I was the first one in my family to choose the humanistic path during high school, despite me not being a member of the modelling lot (I'm the face-for-radio-kind of guy). This time it wasn’t just because I really wasn’t great or even good at physics or chemistry. For the first time I was choosing a path because of things that I identified with: I loved languages, and studying the human side of reality seemed to be something I was keen towards.

In 9th grade I had taken a vocational test that suggested I should study writing “Writing & Literature”, and that became an option, an improbable one. After all, music, I thought, was going to be my profession, like my Pa’s. Of that I was certain, even if I didn’t have his talent to make music or play instruments (he knew how to play seven musical instruments and even taught himself how to play the banjo). All I knew was that for a big chunk of my life, I felt that music was the only thing I’d be good at, and not that good, since I didn’t have my dad’s talent, nor the talent of my music peers.?

Composer’s Block?

I had taken music lessons in the afternoons since I was seven at a music conservatory named “Juan Jose Landaeta” (that’s who composed the music for Venezuela’s national anthem, by the way). In that school I was surrounded by my lot, my humanistic crowd, that’s where I belonged socially and intellectually. The counterpart was that many (or most?) of them were teenage geniuses that were winning national and international piano competitions, they earned prizes because of their novel compositions, they’d be accepted later on in schools in Europe. In the meantime, I had dropped the cello lessons (one of my greatest regrets of my life) and kept struggling in guitar classes. Not only that, I had an innate composer’s block.?

It consisted of excruciating moments at the piano trying to come up with anything good. But with the exception of one song, nothing ever came to full fruition. Any seed of a musical theme or melody would be crushed by me comparing it to what people like Bach, Debussy or Beethoven had done previously and me saying to myself “it’s been done before, you’d be a fraud if you make something out of that”.?

There was, however, one particular teacher that said something to me that would help me keep going and believe in my own talent. Her name was Violeta Larez. She was testing me on music theory and solfeggio (that's pretty much reading music while singing), and I was absolutely petrified because I hadn’t prepared well for the test.

She told me in a frustrated tone: “Do you even know how much talent you have? Don’t you know how great talent you have within you? Do you think a lot of people have your talent?”

To be honest, until that point, I thought myself as ok in music at best. I couldn’t believe that someone believed in me and was frustrated because I didn’t. I'll always be grateful because she'd helped me realize the potential I had.

Crushing Creativity

From a Venezuelan musician called Ilan Chester, I had learned that composing something could be trying different avenues to put something together. But I kept closing every avenue that would show up in my mind because when comparing to anything that already was in my musical memory.?

You see, I’d grown up as a musical snob, and unbeknownst to me, I was shooting myself in the foot because of that. I was killing every inch of creativity, thinking that it had to come from no previous musical composition but my own creation; otherwise, it would be mediocre and not valid.?

If you’re reading this, beware of crushing your own ideas, just because someone did something similar before. Coming up with ideas ex-nihilo (“out of nothing”) is virtually impossible. Ideas come from connections of previous experiences, and notions already present. Just use those connections and see where they take you. Yes, we still need to make sure we’re not plagiarizing, but don’t let unhealthy assumptions on creativity kill your ideas.?

Raw Creativity

I started showing the creative side in a rawer way in legitimate extracurricular endeavors like writing poems sporadically, joining the school choir, the Boy Scouts or the drama club. There, mostly for fun, I’d be able to let loose and let myself perform. I’d end up feeling good about myself because of having the approval of my Scout Masters, my teachers, or the public standing in ovations.

I’d show raw creativity in other not so formal, or even dubious practices, like becoming the class clown by telling dumb jokes in the middle of class. Sometimes I’d have success, but a lot of times I bombed. In fact, I had been bombing since I was five years old by telling dad jokes, thus earning both the laugh, but also the jeers and mockery of my peers (and relatives). Maybe I should try stand up one of these days.

Another not so formal form of raw creativity was me annoying the schoolteachers or impersonating them. That got me a crowd, and it also got me in trouble a couple of times. But I knew I was unto something when the teachers themselves were asking me to impersonate them.

Thanks to that, new connections and social avenues opened, which I didn’t quite believe was possible.? I was a big nerd who had a severe lack of aptitude for team sports. I was being a clown as a way to cope with my insecurities, not because I wanted to be popular. That copying mechanism based on creative practices, formal or not, would help me years later to get a contract with the Utah Opera. Curiously, to this date it remains the only experience I had with Music as a profession.

Some lessons you can take from this.

Trust your ideas: Don’t kill them immediately. Try them, put them to the test, see how they pan out.

Avoid comparing yourself with others: There’s someone who’s always going to be better than you at something, and they are going through their own trials. There’s no need to feel inferior or insecure. Just keep trying and getting better.

Cultivate creative opportunities from diverse sources: Whether it’s a formal class or by doing things spontaneously, give yourself the opportunity to develop a creative muscle. Give yourself permission to do that.? Good opportunities might come down the road because of it.

Do the best you can with what you’ve got: This one speaks for itself, but I’d add that innovation and creativity come not because the accumulation resources, but by utilizing those resources the best way we can. An example of that is the great oratorio from Handel: “The Messiah”.

YOU ARE A CREATIVE BEING: Don't let comparison, social status, lack of resources, or criticism make you believe you're not creative. I think that former commercial pilot and religious speaker Dieter Uchtdorf puts it better than I ever could:?

“The desire to create is one of the deepest yearnings of the human soul. No matter our talents, education, backgrounds, or abilities, we each have an inherent wish to create something that did not exist before.

Everyone can create. You don’t need money, position, or influence in order to create something of substance or beauty.”

Do you remember how creative you felt when you were younger? Now, go and try creating something this week. Tell us about it in the comments, to quote one of my favorite movies, I triple-dog-dare you.?

Still need a creative shot? Check out this podcast about a movie with Luis Manuel Miranda. Enjoy!