I think that we often forget that creative work is indeed work. We’re attracted to the fun techniques, the charismatic teachers, and the enjoyable end products, but it takes true work to get there.
I often feel like we live in an instant, fast food kinda society, and we don’t want to wait around for anything. We want fast internet, instant downloads, and next day delivery. We want binge ready streaming and infinite undos. We get frustrated if we have to wait or if we can’t have something instantly.
I’ve seen many folks get extremely upset when they can’t do something perfectly the first time. They seem to have this mentality that anything worth having or doing is only worth it if they can have it or do it instantly, and they give up before they even begin because they’re not masters at a craft after trying it once or twice. They struggle and so don’t want to continue through the struggle. It doesn’t come easy so they don’t want it at all.
It’s the person who says that they would love to play the piano or paint beautiful landscapes, but who doesn’t want to put in any of the work. They feel that it would great to just be able to play like the musician that practices hours everyday or paint like the artist that’s been drawing and painting for 40 years without any of the work. It’s like they would just love to download the ability like Neo in The Matrix, and they unfortunately don’t see or imagine the hard work and the years of practice that go into it.