Staring onto a blank canvas with absolutely nothing to write about is probably just as terrifying as staring down a barrel of a loaded gun that’s being held by a crazed murderer.

Maybe a little overexaggerated but you get my point.

I think us as humans, and consumers of entertainment, love to think of ourselves as creatives who have yet to have an outlet to express said creativity, but whenever we try to express ourselves, we lose to our fearful thoughts.

The want to create something meaningful, intelligent, unique, runs so deep to the point where thinking about it sounds better than actually doing it. Doesn’t that sound crazy?

I’m not sure why everyone does it, but as a writer myself (Oh, I’m a writer by the way) I think it comes from nothing but fear. Scared that someone may dislike it, scared that it may not be good enough, scared that…

Well, you get it.

To make a long explanation short, I think actively putting yourself in “creative mode” is so hard because we care what other people think. Like of course we do, we’re not making it just for us to have them sit around and collect either virtual or actual dust. We make them so we could express ourselves and have others marvel at our amazing stories, or songs, or art, etc.

Alright, alright, but what am I getting at exactly?

I mean, I think we all know why we may not be actively creating stuff as much as we want, we are not idiots.

As a music fan and songwriter, I remember setting my attention to a rapper named…

XXXTension?

XXXTentacles?

Exten…

Ah, XXXTENTACION!

Mouthful huh?

Anyways, I’ll just call him X, for short. He was an artist hailing from Florida. He was in my opinion, a genius. Not because he had great songs, amazing rap skills, and an awesome singing voice. But because he’s an inspiration for those that maybe want to start creating but is stuck on the beginning parts of it.

If you heard his early music, you’ll realize that it’s not properly mixed, distorted, sounds low budget, and a little jarring to the ear. I think it speaks volumes when you really pay attention to what he’s doing.

In a notoriously known interview, the interviewer asked him about his approach to making the music that he makes. He talks about music theory, stating that he never liked it because he doesn’t like things that make him feel, “stupid”.

I am going off on a tangent here but bear with me, it’ll make sense soon.

In the same interview, the interviewer asks why his music sounds distorted and unprofessional. To sum it up, X says that it is merely an aesthetic and it makes it sound different. X and some of his friends who were up and coming artists (Ski Mask The Slump God, Wifisfuneral, DJ Scheme, and Craig Xen) all stated that leaving the sound “unprofessional” makes it sound genuine, true to who they are.

You see, the reason I am stating this is that I think they captured something about creativity that most of us fail to realize. Whether good or bad, one thing that stands out in any sort of outlet for creative entertainment is how genuine one’s piece of work is. How it uniquely shapes what they see in their mind. The fear comes from the thought that it may not be “acceptable” when anything is acceptable. It just must fit who you are.

But to be honest, I think XXXTENTACION stumbled upon his trademark sound from pure luck.

I mean let’s be real, what makes his sound so different from your buddy’s amateur music on his SoundCloud?

Just like I said before, he found a way of expression that fits him like a glove, distortion, and rawness. In a weird way, leaving his music unprofessional made him a professional, you know? He wrote, recorded music, did some limiting to make the tracks louder, and boom dropped it. Like it was nothing.

He made something that is perceived to be “not good enough”, good enough.

Which brings me back to the topic at hand, which is creativity and why we stare at that blank canvas with an empty mind and frozen limbs. If you take in the fact that XXXTENTACION kind of effortlessly found a way to make himself stand out, you’ll realize that if you have any kind of desire to create, anything’s possible.

You could create something that is unique from thin air and most people choose not to believe that creativity could be that accessible.

Not trying to bash any creatives saying that your job is easy, because it’s not. I am just saying that the concept is not that hard to grasp.

I could go on and on about how creativity lies in everyone but that would just reiterate my previous point over and over. There is nothing to be afraid of, or fearful of when one wants to create. It’s a journey, an experience, and an amazing feeling once you realize to let go of those fears.