When I started out in the industry, I tried to look at opportunities like a big, all-you-can-eat-buffet. I was walking around with my empty plate, trying to scoop up all the right opportunities with my big pro-active spoon. As I’ve developed and grown over the years, so has my plate. So, I decided to share my food. To provide others with the nutrition they are looking for.
But there’s something that has been bothering me that I feel I need to speak out about, for the sake of the buffet and future scoopers. These days, I’m having trouble sensing the hunger in young creatives. As a passive curator of this platform and quiet observer within the industry, I’ve noticed less pro-active projects and creatively channeled frustration than I ever have. Which is strange to me, since it feels like nowadays the opportunities to be frustrated with a certain issue, or to be critical of establishments are more saturated than ever before.
So, if my observation is true and there is simply less creative hunger, what could be the cause of this? To throw it all on a pile and label it with laziness would be a hypocritical act of laziness itself. Perhaps we’re tired of being frustrated, perhaps we’ve come to find our creative purpose elsewhere, but that’s not the sentiment I’m getting when I speak to younger creatives. I do sense frustration and a sense of responsibility to speak up about it. Yet somewhere in between the thinking and doing, there is a clear disconnect.
“Us creatives, are made to flourish under duress. We bloom in the dirt, and we feast on a challenge.“
Maybe most hunger is lost at the abundance of the buffet. Maybe this time we live in offers so much opportunity, so much drama and so much frustration, that it becomes easier and sometimes even healthier to just fast. To focus on the basics and protect ourselves from all the hassle. The big bulging problem with that is, that us creatives, are made to flourish under duress. We bloom in the dirt, and we feast on a challenge.
My message to all juniors reading this, is not a disciplinary call-out. It’s an expression of concern and genuine worry. Because I’m passionate about what we do, I just hate to see the food on our plate go bad. I hate wasting a good opportunity, whether it’s mine or yours. I know this generation has even more to offer than the previous ones, but we must dig in. We have to bear responsibility over our frustrations and turn them into great works of creativity, because there’s enough boring work as it is.
This is not supposed to be a monologue, I didn’t even enjoy writing it. I want to hear your perspective. Do you feel the same? What can we do about it? And what are you going to do about it? This is and always shall be a platform of conversation. Send us your take via DM on Instagram or simply react directly under this article. That’s all I had to say about it for now, in other words: I think I got everything off my plate.
