This thing, creativity, is a sticky trap sometimes. I have talked to a few people now over the last week, and I have found that the theme (as always) is a desire kept at bay (or depressed) by expectation. What I mean is that we want to do stuff, but we end up not doing stuff because our expectations cause us to over-think the thing.
"I have this great idea... well, maybe it should be more... nah,,, that's lame... nobody will like that... it's already been done... why should I waste my time on this lame thing that nobody will like that's already been done! Fuckit!... but, I have this great idea..." and on and on and on
The other big problem is excuses. Well, excuses is probably the wrong term because it seems that most of us don't even make really conscious excuses. We just allow the million-and-one little daily activities and habits bleed away all our time, and then we can just say, "well, I would have done the creative thing, but I just don't seem to have the time." And when an actual free moment does accidentally creep up on us then we just "don't feel like it right now" or "don't really feel inspired".
The main point to all this is that being creative -- that is, creating things, expressing yourself, whatever -- is WORK. You have to decide how you want to feel about your life on the day you die.
Think about yourself on your "deathbed". It is the last day you will be alive. How do you want to see your existence? Are there things you will regret not having done? If in that list of regrets there is "being creative", then you need to do something to fix that.
I do not mean this to be some broad gesture of spiritual epiphany. This is not a "sieze the day" axiom of a coffee-table book masturbation. This is very, very practical. If you feel the desire to be creative, you should do a little something -- a lame, unnoticed, waste-of-time something -- today. Today is the only day there is. And again, by this I do not mean that today is the day to write the novel, paint the masterpiece, compose the symphony. Today is the day to jot down some ideas. Today is the day to make some sketches. Today is the day to record a messy song. Just do a little something. The more little somethings you do, the better you will feel. One day you will have a whole pile of little somethings, and at that point you can decide if it can be something bigger.
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