While sitting here
looking at a blank page and after watching the movie “The Art of
Getting By” and seeing the main character looking at a blank
canvas, struggling to fill it, I began to think about how much life
revolves around just filling something that is empty. Be it eating,
drawing, writing, doing homework, gassing up a car, it's all to do
with taking something that isn't there and filling that space. Even
emotionally. People do things because they feel empty inside, they
buy this, or try that or do this, to try and fill a void. I mean I
just started a job where my main task is to fill any shelf that is
empty.
It's a giant cycle.
Personally I kind of like the excitement of nothing. Hear me out. As
long as a page is empty, as long as a painting goes unpainted, it can
be anything. As soon as there is a mark put to anything empty you
take away all of the possible things it could be. I know there is a
time and place for everything but I think taking the time to actually
appreciate what it means when something is empty is an important step
to creating something.
I know I am guilty of
feeling pressure from anything that is blank. I feel like I need to
fill it. When I was in school I would stress about answers to an
assignment, now I stress myself when trying to find something to
write about. But really until homework is marked, the answer could be
anything, and maybe it's just because I'm tired but I think that's a
really cool way to look at it. Life isn't a finite path set in stone
(Sorry Christians) we are making choices and creating our futures.
Until you actually start writing your screen play, as long as it is
blank it could be the next Citizen Kane. The potential for a blank
page is endless and I think it would take a lot of stress off of
people to think of it like that.
 |
| Now isn't that exciting!? |
Of course not
everything we do with our creative muscles is going to be fantastic.
Just knowing the possibilities for what we do are out there is important. You have
to start somewhere. The start will always be empty. So once you do
finally put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard) or brush to canvas
remember that everyone who ever created anything great lived on this
same planet, breathed the same air, they were human just like you and
I. There is no reason that you can't achieve greatness, the
possibilities are endless, as long as you envision yourself doing it.
At the end of the day
you do need to buckle down and fill that emptiness. You have to do
the work. But before that you have to let your imagination run wild.
Thanks for reading,
Phil
