I used to be embarrassed to admit that I loved Elizabeth Gilbert's memoir turned movie turned cult, Eat, Prey, Love. I found the book painfully relatable, self-deprecating and optimistic, but I saw why many (women in particular) criticized it as a woeful, self-indulgent saga about "white girl problems". I was hesitant to read another book by Gilbert until two years ago, I was gifted Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear, an honest crash course in cultivating and sustaining creativity—which according to Gilbert, "If you're alive, you're a creative person."
As someone pursuing their passion as a career, I understand the terror of losing creativity and the pressure to perform regardless of feeling inspired or not. Big Magic is perfect for anyone who can relate to this, I had too many "aha" moments to count. The book is broken down into six sections: Courage, Enchantment, Permission, Persistence, Trust and Divinity. This is not just a "believe in yourself and everything will work out" type of book. Her blunt advice and compelling examples left me with a new understanding about creativity and it's role in everyone's life.
Among many great points, Gilbert makes one in particular that stuck out to me, that "done is better than perfect"—something I easily forget when I'm so overwhelmed by my own expectations that I refuse to even start (or finish) anything less than amazing. To me, it's like, what's the point? Gilbert uses author Harper Lee to answer this question. When asked why Lee never wrote again, she said, "When you're at the top, there's only one way to go." Gilbert writes of Lee,
I wish that, right after Mockingbird and her Pulitzer Prize, she had churned out five cheap and easy books—a light romance, a police procedural, a children's story, a cookbook, some kind of pulpy action-adventure story, anything...Imagine what she might have created...At the very least, she could have tricked everyone into forgetting that she'd once been Harper Lee. She could have tricked herself into forgetting she'd once been Harper Lee, which might have been artistically liberating.
It's easy to get stuck in my idea of who I think I am, what I'm good at, what I'm not good at, it leaves little room to try new things, or surprise myself. Last year, I had writers block so I enrolled in an 8-week sketch comedy writing course, something that's always interested me. I bombed many sketches—hearing a pin drop after your best joke is one of my most humbling experiences, but according to Gilbert, the key to leading a creative life is to always remain curious. Somewhere between childhood and adulthood, I stopped seeing the point in doing things I wasn't going to be exceptional at, why is that?! Big Magic is a critical reminder, to anyone who desires a fulfilling life, that failure is not just inevitable, it's crucial.
I'll end with a final point made by Gilbert when reflecting on second-century Roman emperor, Marcus Aurelius, about the shared, universally daunting task of self-expression. She writes,
I find it encouraging to watch this brilliant man...working through all the same questions we all must work through in our lives: Why am I here? What have I been called to do? How am I getting in my own way?
...he writes to himself...'Get a move on—if you have it in you—and don't worry whether anyone will give you credit for it. And don't go expecting Plato's Republic; be satisfied with even the smallest progress, and treat the outcome of it all as unimportant'.
Comments