I owe a lot of the things I like about myself to the Cortex Podcast.
When I was a different person I was listening to the podcast on a bike, cycling alone through central France. One of the hosts said something like:
You know what creators do? They create.
It was in the context of, very loud air-quotes, "entrepreneurs" - people who seem more interested in selling small cohort courses for aspiring business owners, than starting their own actual business.
Or maybe they were talking about people who were always one workshop away from writing the first draft of their screenplay, or will book onto the next open mic night.
I guess the actual quote doesn't matter, really.
But the message stuck with me.
You know what creators do? They create.
And you know what's even cooler? You probably don't need permission to start making. You can just... start.
Your smart phone has a camera, your computer has a notes app, the social media platforms would love to host your capital-C Content. The library is so full of books, but it would be very uncool of you to pirate those PDFs of research papers online.
The quote is a reminder that if you want to identify as a maker, a crafter, a creator - you can. You just need to start making, crafting, creating.
And in the moments when you, maker you, stop making - perhaps because it feels too big or unrewarding or not good enough - all you have to do is start making again.
Frog the yarn and start a new scarf, ⌘N a new document, put the crummy garment in the bin.
You do not need permission, you are a maker, so you make.
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