Why bother about creativity?

Because the best things in life are rarely logical

Welcome to Follow Your Gut, a newsletter about the artist life and business from a mother of two. After soon a decade as an independent artist and writer, the question is not only how to do it, but how to continue to follow your gut in a world that tries its best to stuff it with fluff.

85% of new letters are free to read for 3 days, whereafter they go behind a paywall. If this is our first date, I warmly invite you to check out the free archive first. I’m Swedish after all, don’t want to be too pushy (just a loving nudge ❤️).

Hi there!

George Mallory, when asked about why he wanted to climb Mount Everest, famously answered: “Because it’s there”.

Disclaimer: Mallory, a British mountaineer in early to mid 1920’s, sadly lost his life to his passion, which is not the point of this essay. The point is on the power of a dream deemed unnecessary by the world, but unavoidable for the initiated. Because true passion is rarely (if ever) logical… it’s just there as present as the air we breathe.

Why embroider on your clothes when you can buy it ready (for cheaper!) in the store?

Me stitching florals around the front pocket of my jeans, because why not?

Why bother to write and build a publication from scratch when you might be looking at years of work before it bears fruit?

Yeah… WHY BOTHER?!

Because the best things in life are rarely logical. Or based on rational reasoning.

They’re emotional.

They’re passionate.

They’re driven by a deeper sense of intuition that tells you something along the lines:

“I know my dear, this makes zero sense in the context of what you’re supposed to do, but I think you should still do it anyway, just because”.

I’m a maker and artist in every sense. I start a million projects, especially when I don’t have time for it. And sometimes (frequently) I ask myself; why?

I rarely have an answer to that.

Like, why did I start to wrap rope around this ugly grey pot merely hours before our departure to Paris last week? (Finished product will hopefully be pictured in the near future… potentially next year… lol).

Or why did I cut off the fabric on this lampshade last weekend without a proper plan for when the new one will be stitched in place?

(I’m actually inspired to sketch on the hard shell instead of stitching a new fabric cover….. more on that later).

Ps. I thrifted this table lamp at a donnerie recently (it’s essentially a second hand shop but everything is for free…. I know, it’s the most amazing and dangerous thing ever for anyone with a creative upcycling mind).

Pps. There’s a metallic stamp on the wooden part of the foot which reads “1873”, and I seriously dream that this is already the upcycled edition of an old oil lamp from the 19th century… imagine all the stories that foot holds from having potentially been quietly put in the corner of a living room for 151 years!?!?!?

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So why do I do it? Why do we do it?

Because to create is like drinking an energy juice, where you can physically feel the creativity flush through your veins and bring life to every cell of your body and mind.

It’s an inexplicable process, yet I dare to say, every creative feels it on a regular. It’s as deeply engrained in us as the need to eat and sleep.

Similar to what

Remy Bazerque

wrote in his brilliant declaration of writer’s block “to write for the author is like the prayer for the priest”, to create is as vital for the creative to thrive as any necessity for survival physically, emotionally and spiritually.

I see these new projects as a healthy sign that I’m on the other side of a long dark winter.

When you’re not able to allocate the resources or capacity to create, you know, as a creative, that you’re deep knee in your shit.

You also know that you need to find ways to access the juice to feel alive yet again. Because nothing lasts forever. And there’s both melancholy and hope in that with beauty in both.

Your ability to regain strength through creative expression is a godsend remedy that I’m forever grateful to have access to.

So, why bother?

Well, because the best things in life are rarely logical yet they’re essential for our wellbeing and purpose in this life on earth.

Thank you for reading!

Elin, xx

I’d love to hear your experience with creativity and what role it plays in your life.

If you enjoyed this essay, you may also like:

• What if we all got the idea of well-being wrong?

• All it takes is one idea to change your life around

• Why you shouldn’t care about the shoulds, and embrace its literal meaning instead

The peacock embroidered on the back of this cardigan was one such “why” moment. I didn’t know how it would turn out (or if it would work in the first place to stitch with thing cotton floss on knitwear), but it became my most treasured cardigan (it even worked to put it in the washing machine!).

Another life-changing embroidery patch… This was the first embroidery patch I ever stitched (before the previously featured lion, which was my first paid commission). I embroidered this elephant after returning from a month long stay in rural India working with an NGO that taught entrepreneurship through sewing as a way to empower financial independence for local women. I dare to say that I would’ve never received my first paid commission had I not stitched this one first… It wasn’t “necessary” yet absolutely essential at the same time.

You can also check out the how, why, who and what in the post below:

Follow Your Gut & Start here