Gretchen Weaver
Senior Marketing and Business Development Strategist
“Keeping busy” is the remedy for all the ills in America. It’s also the means by which the creative impulse is destroyed.”
― Joyce Carol Oates, The Journal of Joyce Carol Oates: 1973-1982
When something stressful happens, we’re told to “keep busy” and to “get your mind off of things.” In our busy days of trying to fit too much in, we’ve trained ourselves to feel unproductive when we simply sit to think. Others come in and look at us like we are crazy or even lazy. If we’re just preventing meaningless worry, perhaps “keep busy” is good advice. But sometimes a good mulling session is just what is needed.
Given that I’ve recently purchased a fixer-upper, my personal creative outlet these days is interior design. Sure, I actively look for inspiration on websites and in magazines, but I do my best thinking just by standing and looking around in silence.
Husband: “What are you doing?”
Me: “Listening to the room.”
Husband (with a smirk): “What’s it saying?”
Me: “Shhhh. I can’t hear it from you talking.”
Husband (rolling eyes): “Wait, I heard it. It said that it likes things the way they are.”
This conversation happens…often. Creativity takes time; it doesn’t come when minds are engaged elsewhere. After three houses, he has learned not to criticize my lingering and just lets me stand there “listening”; it’s simply part of the process.
Albert Einstein said, “Creativity is the residue of time wasted.” So the next time someone looks like they are doing nothing, they may just be, or they may be incubating something wonderful.
How are you creative?
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