What do Anna Lapwood, Beyoncé, and Yuja Wang have in common?They're living their Abundant Artist life.
Which word jumps out? “Their” life.
Not the prescribed-conventions-of-their-field life.
Beyoncé debuted a country album and used a song from the iconic 24 Italian Arias repertoire. Yuja Wang has always stood out, wearing whatever she feels like to perform at her best. Anna Lapwood is the trailblazing organist who plays contemporary transcripts to sell out venues around the world.
Oh, right, then there’s that word. “Sell out.” Any number of adjectives are used on artists who break the conventional mold of what’s expected of them.
Why? We dislike change. We are uncomfortable when people defy what we accept as the standards, the expectations. They’re breaking the rules, we say. That’s not fair. Or right. Or our preference, we say. So enters judgement.
And yet, the real consequence is, when we see that happen to others, we keep our own creativity hidden out of fear. Because we say “see, look what happened to them doing something different!” We don’t want to experience pain or judgement from others.
But that’s the lie. Because critics will always exist. And for some, nothing and no one will ever be good enough. More still? They’re really just the external projection and confirmation bias of the even worse voices inside your head telling you you’re not good enough.
Too often it feels like we’re supposed to replicate the mold to receive success. But that’s not how we progress as a culture, nor as artists. We’ve always been meant to BREAK the mold. Because that’s where the true creative lives! In the new. In the different. In the taking chances. In having fun. Of trying new things. Of adding YOUR voice to the vast canon of “standard performance practice.”
So what’s being called forth in you?
Your Creative is Calling
J.
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