Right now here in PA there is a high pitch squeal in the air. The 17 year cicadas are back and the sound is almost distracting. It’s a fascinating creature. It lives it’s life for 17 years underground, growing and developing, and then every 17 years they dig out live five weeks, do one thing and die. There’s a lot to be learned from that for creative people.
Please don’t carry the metaphor too far. The cicada’s one thing is reproducing, and that’s not where I am going with this. In the creative life, it can feel like we live the majority of our lives in relative anonymity. Then maybe one day we finally have a breakthrough and our work gets some response, maybe even notoriety. For most of us compared to the years spent developing what we do, it seems notoriously short. The thing is the length of our notoriety is not up to us. Our job is to spend those developing years perfecting our craft, building and growing so when we finally get to live this life “above ground,” we can make the most of every opportunity.
One other thing. When those little red eyed beasts finally dig our, they sing for all they’re worth. So when you’re finally ready to dig out and share your work with the world, sing out loud and let the world know you’re here and then deliver whatever it is that you were made to do, giving glory to the One who called you out of darkness and into His wonderful light.
AMOKArts 