Does what I create matter?
It’s been only two weeks since I wrote to you last, but it feels much longer than that.
A few months ago, it was easy to live blindly—we knew the world was broken, sure, but it wasn’t always in our faces.
It’s in our faces now.
I don’t entirely know what to do. I know there are things I should do and things I shouldn’t do. Everyone has an opinion.
I didn’t do much productive work last week. I read a lot. When I did create, I wrote a handful of poems and small sections of a novel. I designed a few pages for my website.
Mostly, I have been caught between a desire to continue creating and a question: does what I create matter?
Over the past few weeks (and even as I write this to process it), I’ve realized that when we create things that are good, beautiful, and true, those things do matter. Even when the process of—and our life while—creating those things is not what we want it to be.
I can tell you honestly I don’t always know what to create or how to do it when the people of our world are suffering. Sometimes I know it would be easier if I kept my fingers off the keys.
But I also know we can’t let questions and pain swallow us up to the point where we are paralyzed and unable to create at all. Some of the most beautiful works of art have come from deep hurt and difficulty. I know this firsthand. If we always remained silent during pain, we would not have much art in the world.
I’ve learned that even if we can’t always see it, there is purpose in what we create. Even if that purpose is small—to help a reader see a new perspective or make them feel or think. I honestly never know what impact my writing will have until it’s out of my hands—and for me, in order to let a creative work go out into the world, a small part of me has to believe it matters.
So here’s what I’m trying to do, what I encourage you to do: do what you’re good at to the very best of your ability, even if that ability is limited at times (it sure is for me). The good, true, and beautiful things that come of that creative work will matter.