Creatives, we can play a risky game.
We fall into the trap of comparison, our work compared to theirs, and we don’t even know their story, how hard that writing was, what that painting looked like when they started, how she had to practice the same move over and over and over in front of a mirror before it got anywhere even near perfect.
We only see the perfection and think, Wow. That was so much better than I could do.
I stopped drawing when I was 8 years old, because my drawings and paintings never looked quite like my art teacher’s examples. There were kids in my class who were really good, and there were those who weren’t so good, and you knew which was which because some looked like the example and some looked like something else entirely.
That voice crawled right next to my heart and said, You will never be as good as…
Sometimes it’s a teacher or the ones caught up in the snare of comparison or our own self that can whisper it the loudest.
Maybe we should just stop. Quit. Focus on something else.
We live in a culture of comparison, who drives the better car or lives in the bigger house or has the better-behaved children, and we are letting comparison kill our gifts.
Comparison can keep us chained and unmoving and afraid.
Comparison kills creativity.
We have to stop playing this game. We will never create anything worthwhile when we are looking over our shoulder.
There is no better or worse. There is only me.
Art doesn’t have to be perfect. The best pieces of art are the imperfections.
Sometimes the imperfections are the places we notice most when comparing, but they are also the places of most brilliant beauty, because they whisper, Here is a piece of me. Take it gently. Care for it. Care for me.
So what if my painting doesn’t look exactly like that other one I used as a model? It is uniquely mine.
So what if my song breaks all the rules and doesn’t fit the mainstream Top 10 formula and was recorded in our bedroom after kids went to sleep? It is uniquely mine.
So what if my piece didn’t sound as eloquent or make as many people laugh or get shared as many times as hers did? It is uniquely mine.
If we want to be creators, we must learn to appreciate our different.
If we were just like all the others, what would the world need of us? If we all held the same gifts, polished in the same ways, perfected to the same degree, where would be the variety of art that makes creating so incredibly beautiful?
The world needs our different. It needs our imperfect. It needs us—who we are, and not who we’re trying to be.
So lift your head. Write that piece you’ve been wanted to write. Dance and sing and create in a way that is uniquely you.
Because we are all waiting.
Where do you find comparison creeping toward your creative pursuits? How does this affect your creative energy? How do you kill the urge to compare?
Welcome to The Ink Well Creative Community.
The Ink Well Community is evolving. While this used to be a place where I posted a prompt for writers to share their creative works, I have been receiving several inquiries about my process, how I create and read and manage a household with half a dozen little ones. So I thought we could turn this into a community of people who share about the creative process in all its many facets, from where we find our inspiration to when we find time to create (especially if we work other jobs). I’ll be sharing struggles about my creative life and logistical information about my particular creative process and what I’m learning about creativity, among many other things. I hope you’ll weigh in with your own struggles and observations and lessons. Let’s start a conversation. Let’s encourage one another. Let’s live the creative life together.
And if you have your own questions about creativity or process or inspiration, feel free to visit my contact page and send me a note.
