Creativity, a form of parenting.
If I were to describe this conversation with Andy Mort, that would be it. How creativity is a form of parenting. With the birth of a creative output of some kind, be it music, writings, art or any number of other possible ‘babies’. Tending to a newborn, quite fragile, needing a lot of attention and care, incapable of caring for itself.
‘Advancing the songs that I talked about last time, which had come out of nowhere and are now growing up very fast, like good little children.’ ~Andy Mort
Before you know it the toddler starts to explore the world, going farther and farther from mother and/or father, becoming a child, a teen, getting ready to go it alone, but still needing that steady rock that a parent (hopefully) is. There, always and already there for one’s child. Suddenly, the day comes when the kid is no longer a kid but a young adult, ready to leave the nest and go out into the world on its own.
‘[…] that would be trying to force a newborn baby to talk or walk before they've naturally got to that place in their development.’ ~Andy Mort
Last time we talked, Andy had just given birth to thirteen songs, and this time, he’s spent some time putting rhythm and a bit of vocals to them, close to having fully formed demo’s, to quote him.
Thing is, when you are busy with a newborn creation (Andy’s thirteen songs, my current project The Book on Fear), it’s so easy to evict the budding teen’s of one’s creative output way before they are ready to stand on their own legs. For Andy, The Return to Serenity Island, a stand-alone-course he set up in the spring. For me, Doing Gentle with an Edge, the e- and audiobook released in the spring.
But then what? Busy with creative newborns, we are very slack parents for our teens. They also need attention (read: marketing, appreciation, being mentioned and introduced to new acquaintances and so on), more than we both give them.
If you are a creative giving birth to creative endeavours outputs, babies of any kind, do you recognise yourself in this analogy? If so, I am betting on you finding a few pieces of tankespjärn here. And if you don’t view yourself as a creative, hm… What if, just maybe, you actually are?
Links:
Andy Mort
The Return to Serenity Island
The intention of a more conscious life, digital and analog
Sudbury schools
Episode 33. The entanglement of grief and gift | with Inma & Matthew
The Creative’s Workshop
Sandra Koenig, my Supercoach Academy colleague from 2014
Doing Gentle with an Edge, the e/audiobook

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