The Gig of Your Life

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Today, I officially started preparing for the gig of my life.

When I was younger, I thought the gig of my life would be to play in a rock band and tour around the planet. Pretty hilarious. After that, I thought the gig of my life would be to score a primetime network television show. Then I thought the gig of my life would be if I could somehow manage to convince someone to let me score their feature film. And then... and then... and then...

We are an ever-hopeful people... we Creatives. "The next one" is always going to be the one that is going to make it all come together for us. That's not a bad thing... as Creatives, we are wired that way. Creators don't tire of creating. If we do, then we aren't really balls-to-bone Creators, we're hobbyists. Totally different.

The gig of your life might be something completely unrelated to Creativity. Maybe the gig of your life is being a great mom or dad to your kids. Maybe it's the value you place on your role as a brother or sister. Maybe it's your gig as a leader in your community. It could have to do with absolutely everything but being creative. Or can it?

The Gig of Your Life

As Creatives, everything we put our hand to results in a creative endeavor. Even the most minuscule task will have a subtle creative flair to it if the person tasked with it is a creative artist. That goes for your marriage, relationships, community activism, and family roles. Those can be just as creative as your role as a composer, artist, actor, or designer. The effort needed to fuel the non-feature roles in the life of a Creative is essentially the same as the effort necessary for the featured roles to work.

Worth the Effort

Effort. We like to toss that word around like it's a throw-away word. It's not as simple as it sounds. Effort is not effortless. Maximizing your effort takes being in the right frame of mind. I've had friendships and relationships in my life that were absolutely worth the effort, but my frame of mind was not in the right place and I didn't put forth the effort to sustain them with any creativity. I let them grow stagnant and allowed them to atrophy over time. Had I put more creativity into them, they might have turned out differently. I'll never really know but I do know how they ended up without much effort being put in, and I wasn't happy with the result.

But now, here, on this day, I can look back and see the changes that have happened within me. I'm in the most ripe, creatively fertile time of my entire life. I view everything through a creative lens—completely differently than I did when I was younger, less mature, and way more naïve. We probably all do that, I suppose. I'm ready to attack this new amazing season of my life with a creativity that no part of my past 37 years ever got the chance to get acquainted with. I now approach these life-changes with renewed spirit. I see them as opportunities that I want to have in my life, not as opportunities that would be nice to have.

I became engaged to my creative partner today—someone most people wouldn't consider a Creative. Nonetheless, this relationship is the greatest creative partnership I've ever been a part of. It's not one person being creative and the other person doing their thing... both people operating away from each other. Instead, it's two people as a creative whole. That wouldn't have been possible even five years ago. Five years ago I lacked the capacity to allow that to happen. Things are so different now.

Now, I understand the value behind the effort, and it feels effortless because I am a creator. I'm creating something beautiful with someone who thrives on the creativity of beautiful things.

Maybe the "gig of your life" is your life. And to recognize anything else as the greatest gig is to squander the responsibility we have as artists.

This is a conversation we are having… a two-way street. I’d like to hear your ideas on how this folds into your creative process. Please leave a comment under this post. Names are optional, but I’m interested in real and meaningful discussions, so consider leaving your name if that’s also interesting to you. Thanks for stopping by!

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