I have spent my days stringing and unstringing my instrument while the song I came to sing remains unsung.
- Rabindranath Tagore
As creatives, the possession of a strong, clear vision for our work, and faith in its value, is a rare and valuable characteristic. Similarly, in life, a strong clear vision of who you are, what you have to offer that is unique, and what you want out of life is rare and valuable.
The lack of a clear creative vision can manifest in a lack of focus – the jumping from one half-finished project to another. It can manifest in the abandonment of a project at the first sign of market indifference or rejection. Sometimes what is abandoned has great potential value, but unless its creator has faith in it, it can’t build the momentum required to surpass those early hurdles that almost all creative projects encounter. The more unique the project, the more the more difficult it is to build that initial momentum. And the lack of a strong, clear vision can manifest as an inability to get started. It can manifest as procrastination – the tendency to watch YouTube and TikTok videos, or email friends, rather than write your novel, or paint.
I’ve been wondering all day today, since updating the Heron Dance Projects and Random Thoughts page, if I might be falling victim to an aspect of this. I use that page review what I’m working on, and why, and how projects are progressing. Its greatest value may be that, by writing things out, I come to understand them better, and thus understand what I’m doing, and why, better.