Arts
Over the last few years, I've noticed a growing term that the internet generation likes to use to encapsulate the mundane work that is involved in being a responsible adult--in this case, it's 'Adulting.' This can include the process of paying bills, daily commuting, day/night jobs, and taking care of the household. The fact that this term has surfaced now, of all times in our society, is pretty representative of how much the 'moundane' has taken up most of our time. Wherever I go, I hear people say how being in school or being young was the best time of their life. Like a good song from the Boss, the Glory Days seem all the rage. I think adults become nostalgic because when we were young, we had more freedom to explore who we are, and we had fewer distractions (i.e. aduliting) getting in the way of that discovery. We can involve ourselves in art, music, photography, theater, and dance, and it's all at our fingertips when we are in school. And everyone around us is doing it too. It flows together seamlessly, so self-discovery is a natural byproduct of that environment. The most significant advantage of youth is available time, and when we are young, we have no concept of how this advantage will evaporate. As we get older, and we take on the day-to-day aspects of 'adulting,' we find the independence we sought is a hell of a lot more work than we expected. Prioritizing our artistic creativity seems like something so frivolous, and unnecessary as we are trying to pay off all that school debt. For many of us, it's an easy slide into the day-to-day mode. Life becomes utterly and completely consumed by 'adulting.' With that, comes an inevitable loss of human meaning. I find this all rather frustrating, having gone through this internal struggle myself. Sometimes it feels like waking up from the Matrix, and I see the manufactured world of identities around me, and I am completely out of place. What makes art unique to all other types of work is that you are literally creating an imprint of who you are on a page, or in a photo, or in a beautifully crafted piece of wood. That is not something to be looked down upon, and it is not a waste of time, even if there is no monetary gain from it. But I would argue that there is some amount of monetary gain to be had from it, as there are any number of scientific studies out there showing the correlation between fostering creativity and art, and seeing an influx of innovation in the workplace. There are is a lot of literature out there on how you can become more creative, or take your art to the next level. In creating this podcast, I hope to get the real scoop from all of you, not just the 'expert's advice. There is something to be said about a community of artists that support other artists, and in this digital age, I think this has provided us with more opportunities to add art back into our lives. We somehow find the time to escape into other things, like TV, video games, and Facebook (and none of those things are bad in and of themselves). But are we truly so fulfilled in our lives that we can validate 3-6 hours of Facebook or TV binging. Given how much nostalgia has infiltrated all of adult culture these days, my guess is 'probably not.'