Permission To Be Creative, Granted

Inspiration can come in unexpected places. I was reminded of this when I watched a documentary about the demise of the Swedish punk band Refused, properly titled Refused Are F***ing Dead. I do sincerely try to refrain from dropping F-bombs on my blog, but it’s kind of hard to avoid doing so when the word is in the title of something. For me, the best part of the documentary came at the end, when someone summarized what Refused had meant to him. This little quote stuck out in my mind:

“Be creative. Be alive. Share every gift and every passion you have to offer. We all need all we can get.”

When I heard that, I realized that he wasn’t telling us to be creative for ourselves; he was telling us to be creative for others, for the world.

Make no mistake of it, we’re living in a cookie-cutter world. So much music sounds alike. Movies have the same formula and plots. Go to your average suburban neighborhood; how many times do you see the same house? We built a world of factories, and in business school you are not taught to think outside the box and create a new business; you’re told how to make a business identical to what already exists. There’s no doubt that creativity is not encouraged in mainstream education, and considering how much of our lives we spend in school, is it any wonder that we’re afraid to be brave and try something new?

So many of us spend so much time studying what works and what’s effective. We forget to put a bit of ourselves into what we’re doing, and as a result, we dehumanize everything. We place little value on what makes us unique and remarkable. We study the fashions and mimic what we see.

I found another bit of inspiration in the song “New Noise” by Refused. It comes in these lines:

And how can we expect anyone to listen
If we are using the same old voice?
We need new noise – new art for the real people

I grow so sick of things that are designed to keep us the same, and I’m always clinging for something that I feel I can relate to. I don’t care if you relate to it, or if the guy down the street relates to it. I want something that I relate to. Something that feels as if it’s a part of me too. (People say we live in a “Me” world, but as far as I’m concerned, there’s not enough emphasis on “Me” in this area).

That’s why, in the world of marketing, I truly respect the people who don’t tell you what to do. I prefer the ones who sell inspiration, not methods. They don’t write a blueprint for you because you’ll just follow it, and that would defeat the purpose. We each have to find our own way, and that should be the fun part, being able to look back and say Wow, I did it my way (Thank you, Mr. Sinatra).

So if you’re waiting for permission to be creative, it’s already been granted. Rock on.

Photo Credit: www.burningheart.com

Tagged as: creativity