I feel like Substack is teaching me to show up uncertain and as a result I’m exploring my creativity. Nobody has this completely dialed so it’s fun to see everyone experimenting.
I always associated ‘creative’ as art. As in drawing. I felt my photography was like a form of cheating when it came to creativity. I know differently now, but that’s taken time.
Everything I’ve done this past two years has been stabbing my comfort zone repeatedly. That is THE best quote I’ve heard in a long time to describe what I’ve been feeling. On so many levels.
Kim, I totally agree: for whatever reason, writing here has *also* invited me to "show up uncertain" (such a good way of putting it). Perhaps it's the commitment to posting regularly? Whether I'm ready or not, Friday rolls around each week, and I need to have something to show for it. Maybe you feel the same way!
Isn't it funny that art forms that come naturally to us feel like "cheating"? It's hard to remember that something that comes naturally to us is well out of reach for someone else. I'm so glad you know differently now. 🤗
Great topic, Maddie! I was working as an emergency manager (the irony!) when my personal life went up in flames so I handled it in the way I was trained to—by planning for every bad scenario and making lifestyle adjustments so I could quit. Bankers and friends raise an eyebrow at our financial portfolio allocation, but it's designed so that even in the most uncertain of times, lack of income won't threaten our pursuit of meaningful work.
Sophia, I *love* that you used this approach as a means of seeking greater career freedom! So many people (Past Me included) use planning as a way to keep their life small, or to defer their priorities so far into the future that it's no longer meaningful. You made your dream of meaningful work happen! Raising a glass to you.
Sep 20, 2023·edited Sep 20, 2023Liked by Maddie Burton
“I just stabbed my comfort zone in the heart. Repeatedly.”
Amazing.
Life stabbed my comfort zone in the heart repeatedly for me and so that became my “normal”. It forced me to embrace uncertainty. Rather than scream all the way through this wild ride we call life, now I hang on and giggle. I still cry sometimes and say I want to get off...but I don’t mean it.
In times of uncertainty I tend to pull creativity closer to me. Also what a great question! Thank you Maddie for asking it.
It is why I love Substack so much. Everyone is stumbling around finding their own rhythm/way of doing things and it’s wonderful to witness. I also know that each and every writer that hits publish is doing it with uncertainty, maybe even a little scared. The bravery that happens on this app is gorgeous.
I love this imagery—I'm totally imagining life as a literal rollercoaster, where we all have the choice to white-knuckle our way through, or let go and scream in delight. (Of course, in addition to "crying to be let off," there's always another option: to throw up all over our shoes.)
I love Substack for the same reason! We're all publishing into the void on a wing and a prayer, but now there's a supportive virtual community that makes the uncertainty *way* more tolerable. I haven't found anything like it in all my years of writing online. ❤️
What a fantastic article! So flattered to be part of it, and to have made a connection with you Maddie! Thank you!!
Oh, let's answer the questions:
During times of uncertainty, I used to find ANYTHING I could control. During COVID when I became much more intimate with feeling uncertain, I just leaned right into the uncertainty. It's MUCH better over there! HA! So so wonderful to start to feel comfortable with knowing we just don't know everything, and can't truly control anything. Experimental film really helped me get there.
I am always amazed by the artists featured in the Analog Forever magazine. They are doing such incredibly inventive things! I'm grateful there is a place that showcases all that innovation and freedom.
I feel like my comfort zone is a vudu doll at this point. HA!
Cami, just when I think you couldn't possibly contribute anything more to this piece, you go and say this: "I feel like my comfort zone is a vudu doll at this point" 😂 THIS.
I hadn't heard of Analog Forever, and I'm so glad you mentioned it! The idea of having "uncertainty role models" in your art is a really compelling one.
And when it comes to my "uncertainty role model," you're Exhibit A. Thank you again, so much, for your generosity in participating this week! What a wonderful connection, indeed. ❤️
LOL. I couldn't write from 2016 on. It wasn't writer's block; it was the state of the world. During lockdown, missing the connection that writing gives, I started a podcast to serve as my creative outlet. It was tons of fun (and so much work!). After I had to get a real, full full-time job in 2021, I no longer had time for the pod (really trying to find that time, though. I miss it!), and it wasn't until I got here in March that I was able to write again, with joy and feeling that it had meaning. But I've given up on fiction for now. I'd rather connect in a direct way. I don't want to "create" other realities; I want to make this one better. And thanks for introducing me to Cami's work. Amazing. You rule, Maddie. xo
Your comment is making me think back to 2016, a year of societal upheaval (obviously) but also big changes in my own life. My personal writing and art-making fell off a cliff that year. There are some experiences of uncertainty that diminish creativity, and others that help nurture it. Those are distinctions I'm really interested in exploring further!
Cheers to connecting in a direct way. I'm glad you found your way here in March...and I hope that you find your way back to podcasting someday soon, given how much you miss it!
It’s funny, when I read your title, “Creativity Loves Uncertainty,” I had this initial momentary reaction of no!! I say it’s funny because I live in a van. Uncertainty has long before the van been a part of my life I embrace. And yet, as I’m making a leap--at last--toward my writing life, toward nurturing the creativity that’s longed to be allowed to bloom and shared for so long, I feel an urgency to bring so much to fruition. This piece was a sweet, gentle reminder that I may be holding a bit tightly to an illusory phantom of certainty along this journey.
Thank you so much, Holly! This is a beautiful reflection on your own experience of uncertainty—and I deeply appreciate your perspective, since the day-to-day details of your #vanlife look different from my housebound one.
I think the creative urgency you mentioned—and certainly the pull to create stability in our lives—are both normal (and beautiful) impulses. Sometimes those reflexes serve us, and sometimes they don't, and that process of discernment is an ongoing one!
Okay, time for your hot takes! 🔥
✳️ What’s your relationship to creativity during times of uncertainty?
✳️ Do you have a favorite artist who uses experimental techniques?
✳️ When's the last time you stabbed your comfort zone in the heart?
I feel like Substack is teaching me to show up uncertain and as a result I’m exploring my creativity. Nobody has this completely dialed so it’s fun to see everyone experimenting.
I always associated ‘creative’ as art. As in drawing. I felt my photography was like a form of cheating when it came to creativity. I know differently now, but that’s taken time.
Everything I’ve done this past two years has been stabbing my comfort zone repeatedly. That is THE best quote I’ve heard in a long time to describe what I’ve been feeling. On so many levels.
Great post Maddie.
Kim, I totally agree: for whatever reason, writing here has *also* invited me to "show up uncertain" (such a good way of putting it). Perhaps it's the commitment to posting regularly? Whether I'm ready or not, Friday rolls around each week, and I need to have something to show for it. Maybe you feel the same way!
Isn't it funny that art forms that come naturally to us feel like "cheating"? It's hard to remember that something that comes naturally to us is well out of reach for someone else. I'm so glad you know differently now. 🤗
Great topic, Maddie! I was working as an emergency manager (the irony!) when my personal life went up in flames so I handled it in the way I was trained to—by planning for every bad scenario and making lifestyle adjustments so I could quit. Bankers and friends raise an eyebrow at our financial portfolio allocation, but it's designed so that even in the most uncertain of times, lack of income won't threaten our pursuit of meaningful work.
Sophia, I *love* that you used this approach as a means of seeking greater career freedom! So many people (Past Me included) use planning as a way to keep their life small, or to defer their priorities so far into the future that it's no longer meaningful. You made your dream of meaningful work happen! Raising a glass to you.
“I just stabbed my comfort zone in the heart. Repeatedly.”
Amazing.
Life stabbed my comfort zone in the heart repeatedly for me and so that became my “normal”. It forced me to embrace uncertainty. Rather than scream all the way through this wild ride we call life, now I hang on and giggle. I still cry sometimes and say I want to get off...but I don’t mean it.
In times of uncertainty I tend to pull creativity closer to me. Also what a great question! Thank you Maddie for asking it.
It is why I love Substack so much. Everyone is stumbling around finding their own rhythm/way of doing things and it’s wonderful to witness. I also know that each and every writer that hits publish is doing it with uncertainty, maybe even a little scared. The bravery that happens on this app is gorgeous.
I love this imagery—I'm totally imagining life as a literal rollercoaster, where we all have the choice to white-knuckle our way through, or let go and scream in delight. (Of course, in addition to "crying to be let off," there's always another option: to throw up all over our shoes.)
I love Substack for the same reason! We're all publishing into the void on a wing and a prayer, but now there's a supportive virtual community that makes the uncertainty *way* more tolerable. I haven't found anything like it in all my years of writing online. ❤️
Ohhh I really liked this topic! I have been stabbing my comfort zone in the heart for many years now. Unfortunately, it appears to be immortal.
The only reasonable takeaway is that you're not stabbing hard enough!
This got morose quick 🤣
Welcome to my sense of humor! 😅
What a fantastic article! So flattered to be part of it, and to have made a connection with you Maddie! Thank you!!
Oh, let's answer the questions:
During times of uncertainty, I used to find ANYTHING I could control. During COVID when I became much more intimate with feeling uncertain, I just leaned right into the uncertainty. It's MUCH better over there! HA! So so wonderful to start to feel comfortable with knowing we just don't know everything, and can't truly control anything. Experimental film really helped me get there.
I am always amazed by the artists featured in the Analog Forever magazine. They are doing such incredibly inventive things! I'm grateful there is a place that showcases all that innovation and freedom.
I feel like my comfort zone is a vudu doll at this point. HA!
Cami, just when I think you couldn't possibly contribute anything more to this piece, you go and say this: "I feel like my comfort zone is a vudu doll at this point" 😂 THIS.
I hadn't heard of Analog Forever, and I'm so glad you mentioned it! The idea of having "uncertainty role models" in your art is a really compelling one.
And when it comes to my "uncertainty role model," you're Exhibit A. Thank you again, so much, for your generosity in participating this week! What a wonderful connection, indeed. ❤️
LOL. I couldn't write from 2016 on. It wasn't writer's block; it was the state of the world. During lockdown, missing the connection that writing gives, I started a podcast to serve as my creative outlet. It was tons of fun (and so much work!). After I had to get a real, full full-time job in 2021, I no longer had time for the pod (really trying to find that time, though. I miss it!), and it wasn't until I got here in March that I was able to write again, with joy and feeling that it had meaning. But I've given up on fiction for now. I'd rather connect in a direct way. I don't want to "create" other realities; I want to make this one better. And thanks for introducing me to Cami's work. Amazing. You rule, Maddie. xo
Your comment is making me think back to 2016, a year of societal upheaval (obviously) but also big changes in my own life. My personal writing and art-making fell off a cliff that year. There are some experiences of uncertainty that diminish creativity, and others that help nurture it. Those are distinctions I'm really interested in exploring further!
Cheers to connecting in a direct way. I'm glad you found your way here in March...and I hope that you find your way back to podcasting someday soon, given how much you miss it!
I think the difference/distinction is adversity (writing to learn, grow, share, release) vs. catastrophe (FTS, where's the wine?).😂 😭 😘 xo
Yes! Adversity versus catastrophe—I should've known you would have the perfect, precise words to put your finger on that distinction.
🥰 xo
Lovely piece! Cami’s photos are stunning.
Looking forward to checking out the interview. :)
It’s funny, when I read your title, “Creativity Loves Uncertainty,” I had this initial momentary reaction of no!! I say it’s funny because I live in a van. Uncertainty has long before the van been a part of my life I embrace. And yet, as I’m making a leap--at last--toward my writing life, toward nurturing the creativity that’s longed to be allowed to bloom and shared for so long, I feel an urgency to bring so much to fruition. This piece was a sweet, gentle reminder that I may be holding a bit tightly to an illusory phantom of certainty along this journey.
Thank you so much, Holly! This is a beautiful reflection on your own experience of uncertainty—and I deeply appreciate your perspective, since the day-to-day details of your #vanlife look different from my housebound one.
I think the creative urgency you mentioned—and certainly the pull to create stability in our lives—are both normal (and beautiful) impulses. Sometimes those reflexes serve us, and sometimes they don't, and that process of discernment is an ongoing one!