The Dance: Order, Creativity, and Travel
Schedules. I’m actually fond of them.
There was a day when I would have pushed back on this. Because I also like different. Try new things. Taste new foods. Take in new sights. Breath new air.
But whether it be age or some strange thing that happens with age, I now am a huge fan of schedules. They are necessary for creative productivity. Order and creativity are not only suitable dance partners, but they are also soulmates. I need both in my life.
Travel is a disrupter. A third party who puts order on the sidelines and whips creativity around in a dizzying tango of sights, sounds, and adventures. Sleepless nights and jet lag and more activity than are sometimes desired.
Travel stirs the imagination and is good for the creative soul. But even while standing by the punch bowl, order is there to step in. When the time is right. When the wild and giddy song has come to an end.
When creativity is hung-over and weak at the knees from a tryst with travel, order steps in again. There is something about normal that makes creativity productive.
Inspiration is great. But inspiration is never enough. New sights. New sounds. New tastes. A new dance. None of this will ultimately produce anything but fading memories.
In many ways, our two-timing, creative souls need a little of both dances.
Inspiration and input
For me this is travel. For others, it may be other forms of input: novels, movies, or museums.
Order and execution
Creativity must produce something.