“Inspiration does exist, but it must find you working”.  Well said Pablo Picasso, very well said.

There is this panacea that every artist comes up with, at least two-hundred times during their artistic career.  “I have no inspiration”.  A perfect excuse for not creating.  Wasting precious time to wait for that epiphany to come, that will make you the Master, the top of the top.  Obviously, it is a trap.

Remember when we were faking headaches and stomachaches at school, to skip a class? I am afraid we cannot skip classes anymore.

When I was at the drama school, we had those classes about cinema.  After class, I got to pass to my teacher (a great director Nikos Grammatikos) some script ideas of mine.  He returned them to me, quite disappointed.  I did that two or three times.  The third time, it was about kamikazes getting on the train and setting it on fire.

He said: “Sarah, yes, okay, but why don’t you write about your parents?”

We get so consumed and overly exhausted by that “ism” of making the big difference.  We end up pretending to be someone else, copying our influences…

So what’s the point?

Artists should be like athletes.  Dedicated completely to their arts.  Fully committed to their arts.  It is like practicing a religion.  It is quite spiritual.  Every athlete who starts practicing for a big game, sets a goal.  His goal is flashing in his head, during the whole process!  He tries his best to get to the finish line.  He will get there no matter what!

A few months ago, RΠR was sweet and kind to lend me Steven Pressfield’s “The War of Art”.  It was enlightening.  I will always be thanking him for letting me read this book.  I will always run back to those pages to get back on track, because it is really easy to get sidetracked and distracted by all the wrong things.  So very easy.

Pressfield wisely claims that Art is a battlefield.  A battlefield where all artists have been called to confront their own Resistance.  Resistance, according to Pressfield, appears to have many different faces.  In general, it has to do with everything that keeps us from doing what we’ve got to do.  As if living our own life it is not art, anyways!

Artists most of the time act like spoiled kids.  Overwhelmingly in need of attention or being flattered!  They’re so very fragile and soft.  We always want the best critiques, high rate reviews of our work and love and affection from the entire world.  Waking up from this day dream can be harsh and discouraging.

I have been telling everyone (including myself) that we should do whatever we want to do as long as all this means something to us.   We shouldn’t care about what others do think or say.  We give our best, we give our soul.  We open up.  It makes us vulnerable, at the same time.

Thankfully, there is enough space for everyone to express themselves and to feel free to do that.  Maybe there is too much free space, that makes us put on our lazy pants and wander around, indifferent to catch the spark of afflatus.  What we do not understand is that afflatus might be walking by our side, but we have no way of sensing it.

From now on, I want to make this commitment:

I want whatever I write and perform to reflect myself.  I want to be completely honest to the people I am addressing.  I won’t hide from my own escape, which is creating.  I want to dedicate myself to my arts and to fight against the rough sea.  I will probably see no land, but I am happy to enjoy the journey.  The adventure is what matters after all, isn’t it?

Thanks for reading me.

Find “The War Of Art” here.

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This post was written by Sarah P of Keep Shelly In Athens, as part of their Takeover of Indie Music Filter. Find the duo online or Sarah on twitter.

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