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Untouched ideas will evolve as long as we let them live in our heads. But how long do we watch them grow and develop before they're made flesh? Ideas can sometimes be prisoners to our fear and shame of letting the world see how innocent or vulnerable we look holding our passions. Like children hiding bloody teeth under pillows hoping someone will swap them out for money.
Truthfully, some ideas are better left this way until ready– unseen and untold. Over time they collect knowledge, experience, and inspiration. Inspiration is as fleeting as some of our emotions, and we have to create within the moment it arrives. Catch and release whatever it is, or it’ll be here and gone as quick as a butterfly landing, then called by the wind.
I’ve heard Earl Sweatshirt and Tyler The Creator avow the same idea; we have to respond to the compulsion to create during the moment because there’s no telling when it’ll arrive again. Since 2011, the former Odd Future conglomerates have met success in distinct forms, whether mainstream attainment or being the trailblazer for dark and monotone rap. But what lingers is their impact on a generation of teenagers who refused to shrink back when peers considered their interests loathsome.
Willingness to submit to their feelings, and give them over to their art helped it resonate with high schoolers who felt the same common emotions. Many were just unsure if those around them would be receptive to skating, wearing vans, and refusing to be subject to religious expectations– especially black kids who grew up in church families.
Oftentimes, we anticipate an emotion settling before we decide to create, and when it does, when inspiration flashes, we prolong creating and ultimately miss out on the opportunity. I catch and hang tightly to thoughts, emotions, and ideas that are fleeting. I seize and milk them for however many words I need to communicate dormant musings. In the innocence of chasing butterflies, I've landed in the hearts of those around me because I chose to investigate my emotions. But this is how I see and carry all of us.
Emotional curiosity helped me to investigate the hearts of people I’ve never met. When our thoughts break out and end up on paper, we have the potential to heal so much around us. Thoughts and stories can harm and heal, but there is no real collateral damage when healing.
If we give in to our impulses to create, fearlessly, with no shame of how premature our ideas might be, we’ve torn the wall that separates us from everyone else. We've broken through.
This is a lot of our lives; we daringly stand in front of walls with hopes of breaking through, only to find out there was a door to get in. A door God was probably going to open in due time. So many of us are left in rooms with bruised shoulders and broken bones from running through walls instead of walking through doors God planned to open. But this isn’t about doors, it’s about ideas.
Told by: Kwon
