I have days and days.
Some days I wake up very lost. I have no idea what I want to do. This is when having a routine comes in handy.
Some days I wake up anxious. I just want to sit down and work.
Some days I wake up feeling like putting on my running shoes and sprinting out the door.
Some days I wake up feeling like going to school and I reminisce over the old days.
But there are days I wake up and all I want to do, what I need to do, is write.
It feels very similar to an itch. Just like you can picture yourself scratching that itch and fathom the satisfaction, while I brew my morning cup of coffee, I begin to imagine how right it will feel to run my fingers down that keyboard. To see my thoughts, dreams and doubts be recorded on the (once) white canvas.
But why do I feel this need?
The real question is: why do humans feel the need to create?
My dog doesn’t feel this. She’s happy staying in bed all day, getting up only to bring me a ball and demand treats.
So, just like hands, upright posture, and immense ignorance (this is the third item on the list right?!) the need to create seems to also be exclusive to our species.
I feel the need to specify what I mean with creating here.
I mean spending time and energy on something that is not guaranteed to add any advantage to our survival – at least not in our lifetime.
When a spider carefully weaves its web – yes, it is beautiful, and could even be considered art but – the force that drew the spider to do this was a need for survival. Immediate survival.
So, I’m not only talking about famous paintings, award winning books and huge buildings. I’m also referring to the small things we create every day, like structuring better habits, seeking better relationships, trying new recipes, writing this blog post.
It is not the first thing we think about when we say “creating” but it is the most abundant kind of creativity.
The solutions we come up with while we go about on our day to day basis are a result of being constantly surrounded by inspiration and opportunities that make us see what is missing in our lives and in the world.
It’s in the act of dreaming that our need to create comes from. It is from the hope of a better world – no matter how big or small a change – that creativity is born.
And it’s this simple desire of creating something that might have meaning, something that will persevere even after we are turned back to dust, anything that points – no matter how faintly – towards permanence that makes me jump out of bed and write.
Well, it’s really what makes us do anything.