🥷 The Creativity Paradox

🤯 Control Through Surrendering Control

In 1960, a burnt out and depressed guitar player lived in a Nashville trailer park.

He was broke.

He’d been in the Air Force, worked the oil fields, washed dishes, hung out in dive bars, and sweated in cotton fields.

All he wanted to do was write country songs.

He finally caught a break when his buddy hooked him up for a trial at a songwriting gig.

This was his dream job, as writing songs was the only thing that soothed his soul and quietened his racing mind.

But on day one, he froze.

He wasn’t accustomed to writing songs on demand.

Ideas for songs usually hit him while driving or doing something else.

But under pressure, his mind was blank.

This went on for weeks, the more he tried, the worse it got.

All day, every day, he stared at a blank pad.

Staring at the walls.

Feeling like giving up.

Then, in frustration, he muttered, “Hello walls.”

Wait, could he start a song that way?

Nah, that’s dumb.

But it was better than nothing.

If he could talk to the walls, he could talk to the window.

“Hello window, still here?”

Then he looked up. “Hello ceiling, I’m gonna stare at you for a while.”

And just like that, he started writing it all down.

The Birth Of A Hit!

“Hello Walls” was the title of his song.

It hit number one for an artist called Faron Young and sold over two million copies.

Willie Nelson had written his first hit record.

Willie finally figured out the secret to getting unstuck: start imperfectly.

Since then, he’s released over 2,500 songs, 115 were top 40 hits, with 25 # 1 songs on the Country Music charts

He has recorded 150 albums with over 70 million sales

The Myth Of Perfection

Willie had created his purpose — more importantly, he consistently soothed his soul and quietened his racing mind.

Being stuck is just that—stuck.

It's because we feel we “should” write the perfect article in a certain way, or pick the “perfect” business idea, and execute the plan perfectly — because shame flourishes in the “shoulds.”

Executive dysfunction is intertwined with perfectionism.

They gorge each other.

The pressure paralyses us.

The truth is you have to start and figure it out as you go. Stop trying to create perfection.

Start writing.

Start that creative business.

Start that TikTok page.

Start creating content to get more clients.

Go for a walk.

Start.

Anything.

Sooth Your Soul

We are the creators of our reality.

Our self-worth is directly linked to our productivity. If we remain stuck we become depressed.

And that’s when our inner critic comes out to dance on our creative soul

We start to believe the tales it repeatedly tells and enter the thorny overgrown garden of our darkest insecurities.

We have overactive minds racing with thoughts, and emotions that overflow.

We’re neurodivergent.

We need to creatively express ourselves to soothe our souls and quieten our racing minds.

For Willie Nelson it’s writing country songs.

For me, it’s this substack.

We all need to process emotions and articulate our thoughts.

Our emotional regulation and clarity of mind depend on it.

Emotional dysregulation is where my emotional world controls me instead of being able to channel my emotional world.

This is yet another multipotentialite paradox.

To control our emotional world we need to surrender to creative expression.

Paradoxically, we gain control of our emotional world by letting go of it.

What keeps us stuck is executive dysfunction— what liberates us is surrendering to creative expression and imperfection.

There is no right way, no only way, there’s only authentic creative expression, which is unique to you.

When I first tried to write I fell into the same trap Willie Nelson did.

I had preconceived ideas about what I should be writing, and how I should write it, yada, yada…

It was the same when I started every business over the decades.

I spent months stuck trying to write.

Eventually I just started writing.

That was four and a half years ago.

Writing has changed my life.

It has educated me, and been a catalyst for growth.

To quieten your mind, articulate your thoughts, and soothe your souls, pick a creative medium.

You will overthink the shit out of it.

But…start.

It’s creative expression without the executive dysfunction.

This 👆 will change your perspective of life.

You will learn to live in flow ( create expression) and that will help you overcome perfectionism.

When you flow more, you force life less.

And this is the creative rebellion you must embrace to fulfil your potential.

Hope this helps ✌️