Do What You Love with Enthusiasm
Guess what, you’ll never please everyone. As a socially sensitive person, that is not always easy to swallow, and the attacks against personal choice can come from a variety of situations.
This might be how we choose to continue to navigate the risks of the pandemic to safeguard our family, livestock, and clients, or even the choice of living a homesteading life out in the middle of the Chequamegon National Forest. Inevitably, someone’s going to tell you you’re nuts or that you don’t know what you’re doing. There is never any shortage of critics!
I’ve had the issue of “you can’t please everyone, so do what you love with enthusiasm” message in mind as I continue to write the materials for my upcoming design course. It never hurts to meet the critics with humor, so here’s an excerpt for you to enjoy.
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“But,” you might be wondering, “How do I know if I got it right? How do I know if people will like my work?”
Liking and “right” are entirely subjective. Folks who set themselves up as being in the know of what is right or wrong in art are critics, not makers. Ask them to do better, and they are likely to freeze. Actual making, actual creating and designing takes a tremendous amount of guts, which the critic (inner or outer) does not have.
The creative journey is infused with a willingness to be vulnerable (another place the critic will never go). If you only do what you know has worked before, the creations become lifeless and meaningless. Trying something different, stretching yourself, asking tough questions and then chasing after them is the work of the artist.
The term “artwork” really has it upside down. The piece of art is the fruition of the work of art. The work of art is the lifestyle. It is a way of seeing and being and giving oneself permission and empowerment to act upon that lifestyle, regardless of what the critics think.
Often, we can get tripped up by the critic when we take ourselves (or the thing we are creating) too seriously. That’s when the gnawing concern of what other people will think creeps in and we shut down, unable to move forward with the confidence that infused our first steps.
Here’s the rub: You will never please everyone with your work. I don’t care if you’re Picasso; you won’t be for everyone. And that is a good thing! If your work IS pleasing to everyone, high, high, high chances are it’s not art.
One way to remember not to take ourselves or our work too seriously are sophomoric tales (stories of the wise fool). Mulla Nasreddin Hodja (often shortened to Nasreddin), a 13th Century Turk and Sufi has a host of these types of stories to share. Here is one that is especially poignant.
Nasreddin, His Son, and the Donkey
Nasreddin (said naz-reh-DEEN) and his son were on their way to the village, riding on their donkey—Nasreddin in the back, the son in the front. Along the way, they passed by a man who scoffed, “How horrible, TWO people riding on a donkey? How cruel for such a thing to be!”
So, Nasreddin got off and walked alongside the donkey, while his son rode. They passed another upon the road, who exclaimed, “What an ungrateful son, to ride while he makes his father walk!”
So, the son got off and Nasreddin rode until they passed someone else upon the road. “What a lazy man, riding the donkey while he makes his son walk!”
So, they both got off the donkey and walked beside. They passed another man upon the road, who cried, “Don’t they know the value of a donkey, both of them walking?”
So, with no other apparent option, they carried the donkey on their back to town, and everyone laughed and laughed at the silliness of such a thing, which goes to show that you should just do what you like and don’t mind what other folks say.
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In your practice, you can channel your inner Nasreddin to make light of otherwise serious situations that are trying to block your practice. We could even make it a verb—how could I Nasreddin this predicament? Try it out if you feel the inner critic trying to slam the brakes on your creative process.
In the end, your creations should be what ignites your soul. Without that ingredient, you’ll lack the blaze to carry you through to completion. In essence, if you do decide to carry the donkey, carry it with enthusiasm!
Probably time to head to the barn to feed our guard donkey…see you down on the farm sometime.
