He’s telling me the story of the ordeal…and it was a bit stressful…BUT….he fixed the car. So he tells the story, and then he goes, “And I open the hood, and I look at the parts I fixed, and they are still together!”
“This is where you get to say, “I gave the finger to the man.” And it feels good.” As in “I did that MYSELF and it worked out.”
I remember when a boyfriend watched over my shoulder while I did a brake job on the very first Dodge Grand Caravan I ever owned. That thing went through brakes….because…it’s a van. Hauling gear. So I decided to learn how to DIY the brake work. MYSELF. NO HELP, just watchful eyes in case I made a mistake.
I finished, and then I got in, burnished the brakes, and drove it. And it WORKED.
AND IT WORKED ALL WEEK…
AND ALL MONTH…and yeah, you get the idea.
I did that AND IT WORKED OUT!!”
I was so excited.
Over time, I came to find that same empowerment really is the same high…the same force…behind that creativity that artists have. Taking control of your environment, doing for yourself, and creating something unique. Now, in art, you are creating something that might be unique to you…you uniquely get to say with your own voice. But it’s the same rush of creation.
Obviously, it doesn’t ALWAYS feel that way. Like when I’ve just put on an evening gown for a wedding gig, and the 4Runner’s back glass mechanism broke….(this was last year). I’m staring at the truck going…right now, really??!! I really don’t need to feel the annoyance of “I gotta fix this after I manage to lower the glass and get my rig out so I can play a wedding.” The 4Runner played nice (as it usually does) and let us in without any craziness…just had to physically help the truck get the glass up and down by lifting it. It was all fixed the next day.
Or when I need to fix the truck, but I really want to practice. Obviously, I’d rather feel pedals under my feet and strings under my fingers, than say….brake pads and a car jack. I’ll work on the car and my mind is crunching music ideas…I’m working on my music and my mind has solved an office thing. Roll out and work the clay for a jewelry project…and my head “hears” an intense music idea. 🙂 It’s part of how humans work.
And then we get obsessed, focus, and carry a project through…otherwise life gets in the way.
But that value is there…and there is creativity in fixing…as seen in the printer I put together from two printers recently.
My family may not have been artists, but I grew up around creative problem-solving. And that’s all the same power source. Sewing, gardening, coding, fixing a car when you don’t have “all the parts”, and you have to make them…literally….you get the idea. Creative problem-solving.
It was cool to see this parent so excited about feeling empowered. It’s all coming from the same source….that creative energy inside us. It just takes practice at using it, and then realizing it manifests through multiple outlets. But anyone can get better. And comfortable. Just takes practice.
Long post…thanks for reading to the end. Maybe someone will find some value in the sharing of this post.