The Problem with Artists

I was going to title this post, The Problem with Austin, Portland, and Seattle. But I have too many friends who live in those places, and I like to avoid making enemies. But read through that lens and you’ll get what I’m talking about.

Whenever I hang out with my wife’s friends, the question usually comes up: “So what do you do?”

You see, my wife is in physical therapy school. Thus her days are filled with classes and studying. On her off hours she hangs out with her classmates and usually talks about the same. So she has that sphere of friends.

I spend my days talking about church creativity. I’m friends with stage designers, consultants, pastors, worship leaders, etc. We spend our time talking about art, creativity, and the Church. That’s my sphere of friends.

When I explain to my friends what I do, it makes perfect sense. But when I try to explain what I do to my wife’s friends, it’s the weirdest thing. “I speak and write about creativity for churches.”

The conversation usually ends right there. They have no concept of what that means. I can explain, but they still won’t relate. They live in the medical and science world, while I live in this absurd church creativity bubble. It forces me to look for other conversation topics. It forces me to get outside of myself and see a bigger world. It expands my horizons.

Unfortunately, us artists (and especially folks from certain cities) tend to surround ourselves with people in our own bubble. We never get outside the bubble. Our vision gets small. We start to think the world revolves around what we do. We never think bigger thoughts because we only experience life from within our bubble. And consequently, we lose touch with reality.

There’s nothing wrong with having a tight-knit community of like-minded folks around you. It’s beneficial. It’s a valuable support system.

But we can’t afford to stay there. We have to get out into the real world. We have to experience people who don’t even care about what we do. We have to remember that what we do isn’t necessary. It’s isn’t the be-all and end-all.

[Photo Credit]