At work I do a lot of editing. A lot. Editing is something I feel comfortable doing, and I hardly ever doubt myself. Me and that red pen, man, we're pretty close. An editor's relationship with their red pen is something you just don't question.
At work I also do a lot of graphic designing. A lot. But design is not something I feel comfortable doing, and I doubt myself pretty frequently. We have standard templates we use in designing every newspaper page, but we're encouraged to be creative, to open up that box and step outside a little bit. Nothing too crazy, but a little crazy is always encouraged.
Today I met with my supervisor, and while she told me I'm doing well with the design part of my work, I could be doing better. That's something I've been aware of for a while now. I'm comfortable sticking to the templates put in front of me. I doubt myself when it comes to my work in that arena. Will other people like it? Is it too boring? Is it too loud? These questions and about a billion others like them run through my head. Editing is very objective — something is usually right or it's wrong. Design, on the other hand, is subjective, and that's the scary part.
As we talked about being creative and not being afraid of what other people think of something {because, really, if you like something, chances are that most people will too}, our discussion led to an old Mormon Messages video {a perk of living in Utah...somehow everything comes back to the Church}. It's called "Create," and it's based on a talk given by President Uchtdorf to women about our desire, and need, to make beautiful things. {If you want to read the full talk, click here.}
I love that we all have this desire to create, to put our stamp on the world. We create every day. Cooking meals, work, even getting dressed are works of art. Thinking about this made me realize that I can't stay in my little corner of the box when it comes to my work. I have to bust out of that thing and make creating an adventure. And we all know how I feel about adventures. Sure, it can be scary. The fear of rejection or disapproval is a very real thing, and that's something I'm very vulnerable to. My poor, big stupid heart can't take being rejected! But I think in that lies the beauty of creativity. You either learn to cater your work to others, or you just say "screw it" and create whatever you find beautiful.
Because really, wouldn't the second choice be more fun? So here's to us, the people who doubt our creativity or who know we have it in us but are scared to put it on display. Let's work on that, shall we?
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