Enough is Enough And That’s Okay
Can content over-consumption fail the creative person?
by Elena Chen
I used to want to create so much. All these ideas and goals and objectives and to do lists and constant wanting to do more and show it to others and put it all on a glorious display. Look at all that I can do and I have done. This applied creatively but to almost all the things I tried to do. If I didn’t do it well, it was a personal failing or a result of some sort of inner inadequacy. The rules aren’t really rules, though. They’re generalizations, tendencies and averages. We exist within norms and norms describe us but there will always be a part of us without and outside them. And those of us who are defining the norms for themselves.
2024 definitely came with its challenges. Politically, socially, economically, we were all been given trials to sit through and even more so this year. I have been so lucky to have fallen in love with my chosen city and to have been given all the friendships and joys because of this new place. Before Paris, I thought I had arrived. I thought, I have a Masters and Bachelors from prestigious institutions, I’ve lived in five of the world’s most renowned cities, I speak several languages, I have loved and hold such true friendships. I went to work, studied part-time and in my spare time ran a small fiber business. There was nothing to pick at.
“I don’t want to live to work or work to live. I want to live and have work be a part of life.”
But knowing when to stop and smell the roses, when what has been achieved is worthy of recognition is fundamental to the fulfilment and accomplishment which constructs the very sense of joy accessible to me in the process. And I think, accessible to most people for their processes. This year has been about slowing down, truly, in every way that I didn’t think were possible. Being in a situation where I couldn’t communicate, in an understanding vacuum, where I was often lost and confused, dazed and left wondering, I had to learn to set smaller expectations and reward every step of the way towards progress, instead of judging myself based solely on the result. Oftentimes there was no result. I’ve never been to so many gatherings and dinners where I’ve spoken and understood so little. It teaches you to make a haven for yourself within your own mind and I really needed to learn this lesson actually.
When the whole world is telling you to move faster, do more, dream bigger, get stronger, it’s really hard to even realize that there’s something absurd and twisted about this message. Who doesn’t want to do those things? It sounds like the underlying principle to life, the survival of the fittest, we evolved based on and in embodiment of such rules. But a million drops make a waterfall and their falling in unison creates the illusion of a cascade.
