Big Magic is an amazing book written by one of the most amazing authors I know. It’s written by Elizabeth Gilbert, she’s also the one responsible for Eat, Pray, Love. Let’s get all inspired by this book that deals about the fear of creative living.

MQ Reads: Big Magic

It has been quite some time since I last read a book that is not school-related. To be honest, I learned of this book from one of the creative artists that I admire. Ella Lama shared this book during her Real Talk Tambay last year. It was an event that was composed of artists that just sat down and talked to people who admired them. During that event they shared their incredible journey towards success and failure in the industry.

Success and failure are like conjoined twins. They are intertwined, inseparable and are both great motivators.

Adam, who’s 1/4 of Maarteng Letra attended the first installment of the Real Talk Tambay. It was during the giveaway that day when he won a copy of Big Magic. We learned from that event that the book helped Ella Lama during the dark days.

For an artist, dark days are those similar to what we popularly know as mental block. But, it’s more on the creative side. Another term for it would be a creative block. It’s just more melodramatic if you call it dark days.

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Creative Living Beyond Fear

That is actually the tagline of the book, or so I think. But, just as that, it’s quite true. Creative living could be one of the most tedious way of living there is in the world. Being creative and applying it to life can be the most challenging and rewarding thing to do in life. Little did I know that as young as six (6) years old, I was starting to live creatively. How? By Playing the piano, of course.

Gilbert’s love of creativity is infectious, and there’s a lot of great advice in this sunny book.
The Washington Post

There are six (6) parts of the book which are named according to the traits or abstractions that one must have in order to live a creative life. I won’t enumerate these as you need to read the book to know for yourself. One thing’s for sure, by just identifying the six parts you can pretty much see where will the book bring you.

But what really scares us? Is it the consequences that could possibly happen if we make these decisions? I am afraid of getting disappointed and frustrated with the consequences and failure. Fear is quite inevitable in life but sometimes, we need to be braver.

One cannot succeed overnight. It entails hard work, perseverance and the drive to succeed. Without one, you’re in danger.

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Lessons I Learned

From experience,  living a creative life in the Philippines is truly a hard thing to do. First, people will ridicule you and even ask, why are you doing this? Even if you know that you’re doing this for you, they always have something to say. I hate it. The system sucks big time. Hence, we live creatively and uniquely from them. How? It’s vague if I’ll say that just do what you love. However, that’s it.

Do what you love. Work hard to reach for your goals. Never mind the failures or mishaps as long as you learn something from it.

But of course, you cannot just do it in a snap. You have to acquire ideas that will push you to be creative. Once you have those ideas, let its magic do its work. Let it inspire you to create, mold and sculpt your ideas into products or whatever you wish. Make it a motivation to make you a goal digger. Being a creative soul entails a great deal with skills and talents. It also means staying up late at night, letting those ideas go in and out of your mind. So, it’s important to have a journal or a paper or an app that you could use to jot down the ideas.

[Gilbert] shares intimate glimpses into the life of a world-famous creative, complete with bouts of paralyzing fear and frustration, in an attempt to coax the rest of us into walking through the world just a little braver.
E L L E

Truthfully speaking, these ideas are sometimes like a train. You either are able to catch and ride or just miss it. If you catch it, trust that you will arrive at your destination. Even if there are errors or mishaps along the way, it’s vital to trust yourself that you can do it. If you don’t, it could easily fall apart.

One of the best things that I learned while reading:

Be brave about your ideas and make sure to grab that idea while you still can. It’s hard to learn about it but just eventually let it go. Surely, someone in the universe will catch it.

That is actually in the book. This is only my way of interpreting it. Also, avoiding plagiarism.

There are numerous reasons to just get out in the world and start doing. Even if the people around you do not understand, make them understand. The world is harsh and you are one of the billion people struggling to make a living.

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Always remember this:

If at first you don’t succeed, try again.

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Final Thoughts

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Various people are out there in the universe trying to make a mark in the world. I’m sure that you are too. It’s that one struggle that we continuously fight just to make the world a better place. There are a lot who may contradict our principles but, do we need their affirmation just to exist in the world?

This book taught me a lot of things. At first, I was still indifferent to the ideas and statements that the book presented. As I live day by day, the book unraveled itself in front of me. I saw the truth that it presented. To be honest, I was experiencing it day by day but just didn’t notice. Now, I learned a great deal that every hardship we encounter should not be a cry of help. But, it should be a cry for battle. We have our own battles each day and we hardly think of living a life full of meaning. Most of us just simply live.

For the people who drop by this blog, creative or not, I strongly suggest that you read this book. Its magic has made me rethink a lot of stuff in the world. From waking up in the morning to working on the things I like and up until resting.

Just in case you are interested in buying one for yourself, it’s available at National Bookstore (both physical and online) and also at Fully Booked.

Do you now dare to step out of the fear and live creatively?