Sometimes I get lost in my day-to-day activities and lose my perspective. Sometimes I forget what my creative purpose is. Sometimes I even wonder if I actually have an overarching purpose. I lose direction, start filling in the gaps of my days with busyness instead of writing.
I had big dreams once that seemed much less important as time went on. It’s not that I have lost my direction and have to get back on track. I am doing work that I’ve always wanted to do and that I think is important, but the excitement is waning. I have wanted to have more poetry, more writing, more reading, and more creativity in my life. I have that opportunity now, but I don’t seem to be taking as much of an advantage of it as I could.
I think a personal manifesto might help. I don’t want to think too much about it. What comes to mind naturally if I give it fifteen minutes? I am considering three questions to get my brain working.
- What do I care about?
- What does my dream world look like?
- What do I want to do?
I started writing my manifesto using the format:
I believe…
I want to live in a world where…
I am committed to…
But now I’m stuck because I seem to have come up with several manifestos that aren’t related to the writing on which I’m hoping to spend more time. For instance:
Manifesto 1
I believe that all seniors deserve quality care. I want to live in a world where people honour and support our seniors, those people who have done so much to build the great community and country I live in. I am committed to the following: ensuring the seniors in my life are provided the best possible care and encouraging others to volunteer or enter a career to help seniors.
Manifesto 2
I believe that everyone has the right to flourish. I want to live in a world where people are happy, productive, and living their dreams right to the end, leaving this world having completed important work and having experienced amazing adventures, and so full of expectation that they have left some dreams and projects incomplete. I am committed to helping people reach their potential by setting an example and helping them overcome barriers to their success through coaching.
Manifesto 3
I believe that excessive consumerism is a major contributor to an unhappy life. I want to live in a world where people live happier, more fulfilling lives by putting less emphasis on things and more emphasis on relationships and experiences. I am committed to helping people who are interested in creating a simpler, more experiential life, by helping them overcome the obstacles inherent in building that lifestyle.
When I look at these three manifestos, I realize that I have been actively working on them most of my adult life. I thought they were all important in the past and I still think they are now. But I don’t see an overarching theme to them, which makes it seem that purpose in life does not have a single name. There are many parts to us. I could create a manifesto about keeping a clean and organized apartment, which I also feel is important, but then I could write hundreds of manifestos about every little thing.
But what I wanted to work on was a manifesto regarding creativity, something to motivate me to write more. Writing is enjoyable. I love those moments when I sit with a cup of tea and pour ideas into a notebook. I like playing with the words. I like the frustration of never seeming to express properly what I want to express, and I like the rare feeling of exhilaration when I pull together a string of words that tickle me with their cleverness.
But writing can feel like a chore sometimes. Certainly, if I just suck it up and get down to work, I feel better about it afterward. But it’s often easier to sweep a floor or read a book. I miss the dopamine fix of finishing a poem, but it can be hard work to achieve it. I just need a little motivational nudge from time to time.
With that in mind, I believe that people suffer unnecessarily, consciously or unconsciously, when their innate creativity is stifled, either by others or by themselves. I want to live in a world where all creative people embrace, express, and nurture their creative natures. I am committed to serving these creatives by setting an example of perseverance with this website, by practicing my avocation regularly, and by encouraging the creative fortitude in others.
That feels right.