Painting an Incomplete Picture
I really like this image from the book Steal Like an Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative by Austin Kleon. To me it hit in two different places.
Overcoming the Focus Trap
I am big on focus. That is proabably a byproduct of my being an introvert. Being alone is comfortable for me. My parents used to tease me about how I would get lost in my books, video games, TV and computers. I could get caught in the flow in just about anything.
Now don't get me wrong, I am not saying that focus is bad. Without significant focus you will not be able to meet certain goals and milestones. I would never have been able to complete my NaNoWriMo novels for the last 4 years without the ability to focus.
Specifically I am talking about my creative pursuits. Take my blogging as an example. I started blogging back in 2005. As an aside I cannot believe it has been that long. My original blog is God's Man It started as an experiment that I introduced to my students while I was teaching. It was where I shared thoughts I was having. However I changed it to focus primarily on my sermons and related items.
This was fine and useful but I found that I had to hold back posts that I didn't think fit the theme. Lots of ideas stayed in my paper journal and didn't make it onto the information superhighway. Does anyone still use that term?
The Commmon Thread
When I began to think about moving off of blogger and onto the Ghost platform I wanted to be able to expand what I would be posting. While I am still God's Man I wanted to also connect it to This Guy, and This Other Guy, and This Random Person who all happen to be the same guy.
No matter what I publish fits because they have the same connection point, Me.
The Incomplete Picture
I have noticed that many people do this, myself included. We work hard to always paint a picture of ourselves sans any blemishes. This is an exhausting practice that drains us of a lot of our energy. The longer you try to paint this pictures the more difficult it is to handle when those blemishes present themselves. It also robs those around us from really knowing who we are.
We long for connection and community. That is why social media is such a big thing. It allows us to present our best selves. We can take 100 selfies to get the perfect one to post. It is an image we can control. However that perfect image actually damages you and those around you. You are damaged because you had to contort yourself into the position to hide your imperfections. It damages your friends because they see your "Perfection" as something to strive for. They feel depressed because their life isn't perfect so they do the same thing, try to present perfection. Then the cycle repeats.
Escaping The Wheel of Empty Struggle
It might seem like a trite answer, especially in this Age of Authenticity to say we have to keep it real. We need to walk in the light of God together. It illuminates the imperfections in our lives. It allows us to grow in holiness together. It removes the neverending paper chase of psuedo perfection. John writes this to the church in his 1st epistle.
This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
Let's stop painting incomplete pictures of ourselves.
Do you think that is possible for you?
-Carlton