Creativity, Fear And Myself Are Going On A Road Trip!

This may surprise some people but whenever I’m in need of some creative inspiration, my ‘go-to’ person is Elizabeth Gilbert of Eat, Pray, Love fame.

More importantly when I’m nervous and feeling scared about stepping outside of my comfort zone and into new territory, Gilbert is my inspiration for the concept of not avoiding, but rather inviting fear into my life.

Gilbert first came to my attention with her brilliant 2009 TED talk “Your elusive creative genius.” At the time I was completely oblivious to her blockbuster successful book Eat, Pray, Love until the movie was released, which incidentally has spent 187 weeks on the New York Times Best Seller list with over 12 million copies worldwide.

Nor was I aware that amongst all her global success, fame and fortune, she was being criticised for delivering a ‘self-indulgent romantic novel’, focusing excessively on her ‘privileged personal woes’. Wow – the perils of success!

What I did discover in reading her amazing but lesser-known book Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear was that her message on creativity and particularly inviting fear into all your creative journeys, is both brilliant and a game changer.

Gilbert is not interested in fearlessness as an aspiration. In fact, the only people she knows who are fearless are sociopaths. She wants nothing to do with being that type of person.

Gilbert tells us that you can’t create a life without fear, it’s simply impossible. We need to learn how to live side-by-side with fear. Fear is not to be avoided, rather embraced.

Gilbert’s brilliant hack is this. Every time she is about to embark on a new creative endeavour (such as writing a new book), she knows that she will be overcome with fear. So, she goes about inviting fear on a road trip with her along with creativity. But fear needs to know that it will be sitting in the back seat. Fear can have a voice, but it is never allowed to touch the steering wheel. That privilege only belongs to her, and creativity.

Gilbert literally places a chair in the room (and not just metaphorically) and then tells fear to have a seat because she needs to talk. This is what she says:

“There’s plenty of room in this vehicle for all of us, so make yourself at home, but understand this: Creativity and I are the only ones who will be making any decisions along the way. I recognise and respect that you are part of this family, and so I will never exclude you from our activities, but still—your suggestions will never be followed. You’re allowed to have a seat, and you’re allowed to have a voice, but you are not allowed to have a vote.”

It’s out there, but Gilbert sees creative ideas not coming from within but from without. Creativity is like an external agent that is looking for people to bring them to life. It's almost a ‘magical process’ when an idea finds the right person.

She believes that “when opportunity presents itself to us then we must grab it with both hands, or else it will move on to someone who will.” That’s why Gilbert invites creativity on her road trips, along with fear. Creativity joins her in the front seat – but fear is always in the back!

Hilariously, Gilbert tells stories where she gets cranky with creativity. She even tells creativity off sometimes! This is where she will shout out into the void and ask creativity, “what’s going on? I’m turning up every day slogging it out, doing the work and keeping up my side of the bargain. But creativity where are you? – I need you here in the room with me right now.”

So next time you’re embarking on a new, exciting but scary road trip, invite fear to come on the ride with you. Remember though that fear is always relegated to the back seat of your car.

Then get to work on making something new and amazing… while you also tell creativity that you need their assistance, so they keep their side of the bargain.

Wishing you a wonderful creative road trip this week.

Richard Dore
CEO - Director of Partnerships
Proteus Leadership