The Whitewater

The Rule: There is a trick to getting beyond creative adversity.

I stepped into the beach water at 630am this morning unaware of the extreme difficulty of paddling out before me. With my surf buddy by my side, we set forth. A good 4 foot whitewater charged at us, knocking us back towards the beach and further away from our objective- the lineup. We gain composure and keep paddling only to find another one rolling our way. This went on for 15 more minutes. Plus there were tons of surfers catching the waves ahead of us and paddling back out with what we perceived as ease. That aggravated me and I felt cheated by the ocean.

Eventually my friend turned around and looked at me and said, "I can't do this."
I said, "yes you can."
In response he said "then what's the trick?"

I didn't know what to tell him, but stay positive, and keep pushing. He made it to the lineup before me.

I don't think there is a trick to adversity. It's just pure arm burning, headache inducing, hemorrhoid forming perseverance. The more you are creative, the creative flow loosens, but when you are face to face, fist to fist with your work in progress, resistance is there to fight you back. There is no way around it.

I remember sitting in a library, eyes gazing over the busy bodies hunched over in their studies, struggling to generate a single productive thought towards my story. I couldn't. So I put my pen to my paper and just wrote. Eventually the ideas came to me, but it was a challenge. But two hours later I came up with three pages of good stuff.

It is easy to get disappointed. Here the rest of the world is writing up a storm on a daily basis, displaying beautiful paintings weekly, gorgeous movies released as fast as a sitcom, and here I am sweating at my keyboard, eyes burning and brain aching and all I can produce is dribble. But I have to keep pushing. Even the greatest artists, the greatest surfers had to push through the same opposition.

Maybe there is a trick after all. It is to keep going. Don't stop. Stay positive, even when it hurts so bad.

Listen to what people say is the trick to overcoming creative blocks, but don't hold them to be entirely true- including myself.