We Need Your Art: Stop Messing Around and Make Something

by Amie McNee

Denying art is denying your nature. The act of creation makes a better version of you. It gives you purpose, agency, and challenge. It demands that you explore the caverns of who you are and discover what lives within—the beautiful and the messy.

Art is a mirror for humanity. It is our place to alchemize trauma into growth, pain into healed wounds, joy into more joy. And even if no one ever sees anything you create, the simple act of regularly making art will make you a fuller version of yourself. In transforming yourself this way, you will be a better friend, spouse, child, parent.

Magsamen and Ross explain that art is a vehicle for neuroplasticity. Making art changes the way your brain works because it allows for the creation and strengthening of synaptic connections.

When you commit to your art and you feel like an impostor, it is important to know that this means you are doing the work.

Procrastination holds the keys to some of our most monstrous blocks if we only dare to determine why we are running away.

You can and you must actively foster curiosity in your life.

I need you to stop pushing so hard and just create in your way, because there is no other way. I need you to focus on your own unique brand of magic. This is how we take the defensiveness of perfectionism and transform it into active, vibrant creative energy. You have something so unique to give. If you choose to hold it in—it will die with you. You need to stop focusing on protecting yourself and start focusing on the potential you hold. The idiosyncracies, the weird choices, the mistakes, the way you infuse your life experiences into your creations. That’s all your magic. That’s what you need to focus on.