Excuse Me While I Sing Into My Hairbrush

Yesterday I went for a run along the beach near my house.nBurned a few cals, got a bit of sun... no biggie... except for the fact that I got a life-lesson from a five year-old.nnHere's the scene:nThe ex-bodybuilder with the dodgy lower-back running (for want of a more descriptive or accurate term) along the path which borders the sand.nThe kid (clearly an architect in the making) just off the path, in the sand building a.... aah.. er... well, building something kinda big and messy looking out of sand and junk.nnKid sees weird-looking guy limping along the track.nnKid: "Waddya doin'?"nCH: "Going for a jog."nKid: "Why."nCH: "I'm a bit fat."nKid: "Yeh, you are."n(Gotta love kids).nCH: "Thanks."nCH: "What are you doin'?"nn(Fat bloke stops running).nnKid: "I'm building a castle."nCH: "What's that plastic thing?"n(I think it was a lid from an ice-cream container)nKid: "That's the draw-bridge."n(looks at me like I'm an idiot for not knowing)nCH: "And that big hole thingy?"nKid: That's gonna be my moat."nCH: "And that?"n(a big lump of wood)nKid: "That's the tower silly."nCH: "Of course it is, what was I thinking?"n(mother sitting twenty feet away laughing).nnI told him his castle was great.nHe told me he knew.nnI was on my way.nnHave you ever noticed how creative kids are?nAnd how creative we adults (often) aren't.nnWell actually, that's not entirely true.nWe are inherently creative but we (often) get to an age where we stop creating.nWe stop developing and exploring our creativity because we get fearful (about the reaction to our creative endeavours), we get busy (with our often unfulfilling life, situation) and we get too sensible and 'mature' to be our creative selves.nnWhat a pity.nnAs I left the budding architect up to his elbows in sand and creativity, I pondered how cool it is that five year-olds don't worry about what people think about their castles... like us dumb adults do.nnThey sing into their hair brushes, they choreograph their own dance routines, they become their favourite super-hero, they build castles out of sand and junk; they express themselves fearlessly.nnThey make something from nothing.nThey Imagine.nThey create.nThey haven't yet learned the 'lessons' that their (ex-creative) parents have.nnLucky them.nnWe grown-ups worry about what people think of our castles.nToo much.nSo we never build one.nnWe'd like to.nBut we don't.nnIf I was building that castle a decade ago I would have wanted only the best materials, I would have spent two weeks planning it, I would have employed a builder and I wouldn't let anyone see it, until it was perfect.nAnd if it wasn't perfect I'd probably pull it down and start again.nnStupid.nnI was a perfectionist (not in a good way).nnOver the last ten years I have re-connected with creative me.nFortunately.n(or perhaps unfortunately for you!)nI have stopped stressing about whether or not creative me was good enough to share with the world.nnCreative me is happy.nAnd boring, safe old me actually loves creative me.nBoring, safe old me would never have written, communicated or shared like I do now.nBoring, safe old me wouldn't have taken the risk.nToo precious.nToo egotistical.nToo insecure.nnWhen I wrote my first book I constantly questioned myself.nBoring, safe old me was very good at rationalising why (1) I shouldn't or couldn't write the book and (2) why it would never get published.nNearly every day people would tell me about the realities and the logistics of getting a book published (especially by an unknown author).nnI heard this quote a hundred times:nn"Craig, you know that they publish less than one out of every thousand submitted manuscripts right?"nnAnd this one:nn"Did you know that if you don't engage them (the publisher) in the first two paragraphs, they won't even read past page one."nnYep; unanimous support from everyone.nnNot.nnNo wonder we stop creating.nnWell the bloke who had never written a book and apparently had no hope of getting one published, got five written rejections and then a resounding yes from Australia's second largest publishing house (complete with an advance payment).nnJust lucky I guess.nnSometimes we worry so much about what people think about our castles (creative endeavours) that we don't do anything.nWe stop expressing ourselves.nWe stop singing.nStop painting, writing and dancing.nnThe choice we can all make any day of the week is whether or not we will let creative us have a voice.nToo many of us say no.nHow sad.nnAnyway, that's enough from me... I gotta go jump up and down on my bed and sing into my hairbrush.