Speaking of waste… Of course, we’d like to be productive. And of course, many of us are born into environments that pressure and demand of us to always be on the go, lest we fall behind, barely taking any breaks. But this overlooks one important fact: you are an organism, not a machine.
Beyond what you do outside of yourself that is evident and inside of yourself that is more subtle (which also tends to be minimized and disregarded), you must give yourself time to just be. Otherwise, not only will you suffer, but also your work will.
You must relax. Sorting out your thoughts, deciphering your feelings, having epiphanies, and coming up with the best solution to a problem. All of this happens most optimally while you aren’t pushing yourself to execute some other task. When you can relax and let things come and go around, allowing your brain to do both its unconscious and its conscious processing, giving up control (or the illusion of such) so that it can deliver something novel or at least outstanding. Deny yourself that and you will turn into a factory that does mediocre cookie-cutter production at best or have a disastrous assembly that won’t even meet any standards at worst.
And what about delight? How much more of you is on when you can genuinely experience joy, enthusiasm, and fascination? And how much of that transfers onto what you’re doing? Ever heard of something being judged as empty or dead? Well, it is not necessarily an exaggeration. Whether in craft or performance, more gets passed on and achieved if you aren’t completely miserable.
Being able to relax and delight yourself is, then, part of your job as an artist. More so when you aim to specifically transmit those states, but also when working on other types of pieces that might seem or be opposite to these. Because it is through these states that you can most fully channel and capture any condition. Yes, even for the most stressed or numb moments, some level of relaxation and delight is required to pull it off masterfully.
So next time anyone, including yourself, tries to deprive you of that, be aware that you’re depriving yourself of what would have you do your best.
