What were you born to CREATE?

“Don’t die with your music still in you”

We use this wise saying to tell ourselves and others to seize the day and do what we love. In the current time of uncertainty, it is now more important than ever. We were each born do do ‘something’ only we can do. We have learnt in the last few weeks that it ain’t a rehearsal. THE TIME IS NOW. 

If you have yet to know what that ‘something’ is there is no time like the present to discover it. Be STILL, go within and think about what it is you love doing. They say it takes 21 days to form a habit so there you go. If you need some INSPIRATION, 400 odd years ago there was a bloke called William Shakespeare who some of you might have heard of. You might even have read some of his works.

Well, William lived in London Town, on a street you may have walked past. Whilst in isolation during the Bubonic plague he wrote King Lear. During an earlier outbreak, he wrote two long narrative poems, Venus and Adonis and The Rape of Lucrece.

When you read King Lear or saw the play, you probably didn’t think that it had been written at a time of great adversity, that uncannily mirrors what we are experiencing now. The pathos and sadness of the work certainly tells of a mind that is suffering. Just remember, he wouldn’t have had the creature comforts we have, like electricity, heating, online exercise classes a la plenty and food deliveries to our door. He would have had to make his way to the local market for provisions, wearing an old cravat instead of a face mask in dirty streets overrun by rats, the spreaders of the plague, so it is said.

He wouldn’t have had a laptop or dictation on his phone. It was a couple of hundred years before the typewriter! He’d have written by hand on paper by candlelight, possibly into the small hours, or maybe all through the night.

You might think that’s a tall order to follow but what do we know? What’s been done before, can be done again and out of great adversity can come great things. We don’t know very much with any certainty right now, except that everything is pretty much up for grabs. So, if you want to leave a creative legacy get working, there is no time like the PRESENT to get working on it.

You hold THE NOW in your hands. Spend your time wisely.

Working from home, your family commitments, Netflix and your online exercise are all essential segments to your ‘isolation’ days. It is also the perfect opportunity for you to CREATE with far fewer disruptions and interferences than you had in the past. Why not turn your WFH commute into your creative time? For many of us who used to work in an office, that is two hours a day. Not too shabby if you were one of the “I don’t have enough time” tribe in the previous world. Hands up, I was!

If you don’t CREATE what you WERE BORN TO LEAVE BEHIND, that my friends would be the biggest disappointment of your life. You owe it to yourself and future generations to do what you came here to do. We were each born to do something unique. We each have special talents, shared by no-one else, not even William Shakespeare. He did the generous thing, and in the face of huge adversity, he let his music flow out of him onto the page. And by goodness, have we enjoyed the fruits of his labour and learnt so much.

Use the Art of Letter Writing to tell your Future Self what you WANT TO CREATE

Why not write a letter to yourself or your loved ones (or Collab Writers) committing to what you want to do creatively in your lifetime.

If you have penned notebooks full of ideas for a project that no-one knows about, unless you do something about it, the risk is it’ll stay inside your four walls and not see the light of day. Do you want your creative musings to see the light of day? I can’t promise the fame and notoriety of Shakespeare but you will be remembered for what you did and loved, rather than just the chattels you left behind.

We don’t remember how wealthy Shakepeare was. We couldn’t care less what kind of home he lived in or how special his clothes or carriage were. We care about the brilliant writing he left behind that we have all studied and learnt from. And, future generations will do the same.

As we move into the Brave New World, think about this…..and use this time to CREATE. I will end, where I began, as that’s life isn’t it…. please, please:

“Don’t die with your music still in you.”