Genitals. They’re the only things you don’t lose if you don’t use them.
Creativity. Those stories and paintings you thought of will die if you don’t use them.
No subtext intended.
Use those ideas. Build them. Add to them by learning and researching, but get back to using them. That’s how they swell into grandiose masterpieces.
Again, with the subtext.
Artists consume art. Writers consume novels. Musicians consume tunes. Study that stuff and enjoy it at the same time. It ain’t work to analyze the all-time favorite movie you’re watching if your goal is to be the one MAKING that kind of thing.
Avoiding embarrassment ain’t a reason to stop making that shit. You want a world with winged noses that poop snot onto windshields? Write it. You want an abstract painting of a corporate drone grinning and puking all at once? Paint it.
Learn the rules along the way, then use that creativity. ‘Cause otherwise your puke face painting won’t symbolize the inner struggle of survival versus being your true self. It’ll just be a puke face.
Memorize a bunch of chords or fingerings so you can summon that creativity on the fly. Accept that you’re gonna play some notes that clash the way a polkadot car at a monster truck rally would. (Okay, they’d clash for your entertainment. Bad example.)
Avoiding sucking ain’t an excuse to stop writing either. Learning what’s amazing and what’s sucktastic comes from using your creativity.
Think of it like one of those nutso sandbox games: The only way to reach level 100 in wielding the two-handed dildo sword is to use it.
That’s three times with no subtext intended.
And yeah, there was a reason for all the nonexistent subtext. ‘Cause the best artists, musicians, and writers can create whatever they want and it’s great.
Think of the best people in a creative field. Right now. Did that person turn something obscene or impossible into a fabulous work of art you’d enjoy again and again?
They did, didn’t they?
That’s because they used their creativity. Tons.
That’s because they put it on paper. They learned some rules.
They used their creativity. Again and again.
Faster. And harder.
Until the masterpiece emerged.